LA. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


UNIVERSITY  OF  OREGON  BULLETIN 


New  Series 


JULY,  1915 


Vol.  XII.  No.  11 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY 


OF  THE 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 

OF 

ASHLAND,  OREGON 


Published  monthly  by  the  University  of  Oregon,  and  entered  at  the  postofflce 
in   Eugene,    Oregon,   as  second-class  matter. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008.wifh  funding  from 

Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/construdtivesurvOOashl 


Eugene,  Oregon.  October  15. 

Please  accept  the  accompanying  copy  with 
the  compliments  of  the  undersigned.   It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  at  the  present  time, 
six  months  after  filing  the  original  report 
with  the  Ashland  school  board,  all  but  three 
(3,  10,  and  23)  of  the  twenty-four  recommend- 
ations of  the  committee  have  been  put  into 
operation  or  are  well  under  way. 

Fred  C.  Ayer 


CONSTRUCTIVE   SURVEY 


Ol'"    TIIR 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 

Ol' 

.      ASHLAND,  OREGON 


FINAL   REPORT.  APRIL   1',,   1915 


FRED   C.   AYER 

Professor  of  Education,    University   of  Oregon, 

Director  of   the   Survey 

CHARLES   R.   FRAZLER 
Superintendent  of  Schools,  Everett,  Washington 

DON  C.   SOWERS 

Professor  of  Municipalities  and  Public  Accounting, 

University   of  Oregon 


Salem,  Oregon  : 

State  Printing  Department 

1915 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  OF  THE  REPORT 

Page 

Introduction    5 

1.  Letters  of  Transmittal   5 

2.  Scope  of  the  Survey  5 

Chapter  I — Grounds,  Buildings,  and  Equipment 7 

1.  External  Appearance  7 

2.  Internal  Appearance  7 

3.  Fire  Drills  10 

4.  Sanitation   10 

5.  Regulation  of  Noise  from  the  Manual  Training  Rooms 10 

6.  Special  Data  11 

Chapter  II— The  Teaching  Staff 12 

1.  General   Statement  12 

2.  Training,    Experience,   and    Retention    12 

3.  Methods  of  Improvement  13 

4.  Salaries  of  Teachers  14 

Chapter  III — The  Course  of  Study  in  Its  Relation  to  the  Educational 

Needs  of  Ashland  16 

1.  The  Community  and  the  Public  School  Graduate 16 

2.  Vocational  Education  17 

Commercial   Training  17 

Teacher   Training   18 

Domestic  Science  and  Normal  Training 19 

Agriculture   20 

The  Vocational  Problem  20 

3.  Physical  Education  20 

Recess  20 

Athletics  21 

4.  Incidental  Civic  Conditions  21 

Chapter   IV — Instruction.      Methods  and    Supervision 23 

1.  General  Methods  and  Results  of  Instruction 23 

2.  Cooperative  Supervision   25 

3.  Departmental  Instruction  and  Supervised  Study 27 

Chapter  V — Instruction.     Special  Tests  29 

1.  Dictation  Tests  29 

2.  Tests  in  Spelling  32 

3.  Tests  of  Handwriting  33 

4.  Eighth  Grade  Examinations  36 

Chapter  VI— Progress  of  Pupils 38 

1.  Retardation    38 

2.  Promotion  40 

3.  Elimination    41 


J  ^  I'f^r/j 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


Page 
Chapter  VII — Administrative  Org'anization   43 

1.  Organization  of  the  School   Board 43 

2.  Financial  Procedure  43 

3.  Recording  of  Teachers'  Certificates 45 

4.  Payroll    45 

5.  School  Records  at  High  School  46 

6.  The   Budget   47 

7.  Record  of  Receipts  47 

8.  Perpetual  Inventory  .' ' 49 

9.  Annual   Report  49 

Chapter  VIII — Summary  of  Recommendations 51 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


INTRODUCTION 

1.     LETTERS  OF  TRANSMITTAL 

March  8,   1915. 
To  THE  Board  of  Education, 

Ashland,  Oregon. 
Gentlemen:      In    response    to    your    invitation    issued    throu>?h    your 
Superintendent    of    Schools,    Mr.    Georpe    A.    Briscoe,    the    undersigned 
committee  has  made  a  study  of  the  Ashland  Public  Schools  and  submits 
its  report  herewith  as  follows. 

Signed : 

Fred  C.  Ayer, 
Charles   R.    Frazier, 
Don   C.   Sowers. 

To  the  Patrons  of  the  Ashland  Schools: 

The  Committee  for  the  Constructive  Survey  of  the  Ashland  Public 
Schools  wishes  to  assure  you  that  your  school  system  is  rendering 
efficient  and  economical  service.  We  believe  that  your  sons  and  daughters 
are  receiving  excellent  training.  Moreover,  the  parents  and  taxpayers 
of  Ashland  are  to  be  congratulated  upon  possessing  a  public  school  system 
of  exceptional  merit  in  spirit  and  practice. 

It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  standards  of  education 
are  progressive  and  that  the  opportunities  and  demands  of  life  daily 
grow  more  complex.  It  will  not  do  to  rest  upon  the  oars  now.  We 
therefore  urge  you  to  be  ever  on  the  alert  to  keep  your  schools  in  the 
van  of  progress  so  that  Ashland's  greatest  product,  the  coming  genera- 
tion, will  grow  to  its  fullest  fruition  and  yield  returns  in  most  abundant 
measure. 

2.    SCOPE  OF  THE  SURVEY 

The  materials  upon  which  the  report  of  the  committee  is  based  have 
been  gathered  from  various  sources.  During  the  year  1914  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  Ashland  schools  under  the  direction  of  Professor  Ayer 
of  the  University  of  Oregon  (a  member  of  the  survey  committee)  made 
an  exhaustive  analytical  survey  and  statistical  report  of  the  grounds, 
buildings,  equipment,  enrollment,  distribution,  teaching  staff,  and  admin- 
istrative and  instructional  units  and  co.sts  of  the  Ashland  schools.  In 
this  work  the  forms  used  were  those  elaborated  by  Dr.  J.  F.  Bobbitt 
of  the  School  of  Education,  University  of  Chicago. 

This  was  followed  by  a  detailed  analytical  study  of  promotion, 
retardation,  and  elimination  in  which,  for  the  most  part,  the  forms 
elaborated  by  Dr.  Leonard  P.  Ayres  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation 
were  followed. 

Much  credit  must  be  given  to  this  preliminary  work  on  the  part  of 
Superintendent  Briscoe  in  supplying  data  to  the  survey  committee  which 
has  taken   occasion  to  verify  the  authenticity  of  the  statistics. 

Two  members  of  the  committee,  C.  R.  Frazier,  Superintendent  of  the 
Everett,  Washington,  Public  Schools,  and  Fred  C.  Ayer,  Professor  of 
Education,    University   of   Oregon,  worked   diligently   for   six   days   in   a 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


personal  examination  of  the  Ashland  system.  After  a  preliminary 
survey  of  the  entire  system,  daytimes  were  devoted  to  the  collection  of 
data,  while  evenings  were  given  to  joint  analysis  of  the  facts  at  hand. 
At  all  points  the  committee  worked  in  cooperation  and  all  differences 
of  opinion,  which  were  rare,  have  been  excluded  from  the  final  report. 

Superintendent  Frazier  and  Professor  Ayer  were  joined  the  last  two 
days  by  Don  C.  Sowers,  Professor  of  Municipalities  and  Public  Account- 
ing, University  of  Oregon,  (formerly  connected  with  the  New  York 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research),  who  made  a  special  study  of  the  business 
administration  of  the  Ashland  schools. 

The  main  report  has  been  prepared  and  elaborated  since  the  time  of 
the  local  survey.  Some  of  the  students  in  Professor  Ayer's  advanced 
classes  in  education  at  the  University  of  Oregon  have  assisted  materially 
in  judging  and  tabulating  the  results  of  some  of  the  special  tests  of 
instruction.  The  committee  has  conscientiously  endeavored  to  make  the 
survey  upon  a  scientific  and  impartial  basis,  and  in  their  recommendations 
have  constantly  kept  in  mind  the  future  needs  of  the  Ashland  schools 
in  particular  rather  than  school   systems  in  general. 

The  report  represents  the  unanimous  and  unreserved  opinions  of  all 
the  members  of  the  survey  committee.  No  effort  was  made  to  make  an 
exhaustive  study  of  every  phase  of  the  Ashland  school  system  but  the 
time  and  attention  of  the  committee  were  so  distributed  as  to  consider 
adequately  the  educational  factors  which  seemed  of  greatest  import  to 
future  constructive  effort. 


ASHLAND   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 


CHAPTER   I 
BUILDINGS,  GROUNDS  AND  EQUIPMENT 

1.  EXTERNAL  APPEARANCE 

Ashland  has  three  school  buildinp:s.  The  hipfh  school  building:,  the 
newest  of  the  three,  has  been  in  use  for  five  years.  It  was  erected  at 
a  cost  of  $75,000.00.  It  is  a  handsome  buildingr  of  unique  construction 
and  highly  satisfactory  in  its  arrangements.  There  are  six  acres  in  the 
high  school  grounds.  Aside  from  standing  room  for  the  building,  there 
is  a  school  garden  covering  an  acre  and  a  half,  an  athletic  field  covering 
two  acres  and  generous  parking  strips  of  lawn. 

The  East  and  West  grade  schools  are  well  housed  in  well  kept  brick 
buildings.  The  East  School  has  three  acres  in  grounds  and  the  West 
School  two  acres.  Portions  of  both  these  grounds  are  parked  and  the 
balance  is  devoted  to  playgrounds  and  athletics.  Both  grounds  are 
equipped  for  baseball,  basket  ball,  volley  ball  and  tennis.  Upon  all 
three  of  these  grounds  very  complete  sprinkling  systems  have  been 
established. 

It  is  evident  that  much  thought  and  care  have  been  expended  upon  the 
school  buildings  and  grounds  by  the  school  authorities  and  that  the  work 
of  the  janitors  at  all  three  buildings  is  being  thoroughly  and  conscien- 
tiously done. 

2.  INTERNAL  APPEARANCE 

Aesthetic  surroundings  have  long  been  recognized  as  a  prime  agency 
in  forming  good  taste  and  a  discriminating  appreciation  of  the  beautiful. 
The  natural  envii-ons  of  Ashland  are  a  powerful  asset  in  this  direction. 
Moreover  the  school  grounds  and  buildings  of  Ashland  are  uniformly 
artistic;  indeed  rather  exceptional  in  this  respect.  Probably  the 'most 
potent  influence  of  static  beauty  upon  school  children  lies  in  the  decora- 
tions which  ornament  the  walls  and  interiors  of  the  rooms  in  which  they 
spend  a  large  share  of  their  time.  Conditions  in  the  Ashland  schools 
are  variable  in  this  respect,  even  within  the  same  building.  On  the  one 
hand  we  desire  to  commend  very  highly  the  admirable  selection  and 
arrangement  of  pictures  found  in  the  high  school  assembly  room.  The 
aesthetic  effect  is  unusually  pleasing  and  can  not  fail  to  exert  a  powerful 
refining  influence  upon  the  pupils. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  certain  rooms  in  the  grade  buildings  are 
artistically  decorated,  the  colorless  prints  and  bleak  photographs  which 
hang  upon  the  walls  of  many  of  the  rooms  are  not  of  a  nature  to  guide 
children  to  better  standards  of  taste  and  appreciation  of  what  is  good 
design  or  artistic  decoration. 

The  committee  recommends  immediate  attention  to  the  interior  deco- 
rations of  the  rooms  of  the  grade  buildings.  We  suggest  that  efforts 
be  made  to  encourage  various  agencies  to  present  good  pictures,  mural 
decorations,  and  pieces  of  sculpture  to  the  schools.  We  also  suggest 
that  parents  and  friends  make  temporary  loan  of  good  examples  of  the 
spatial  arts  to  the  schools.  We  believe  that  this  practice  will  result  to 
Ashland  children  in  a  decided  uplift   in  aesthetic  appreciation. 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


10  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

3.  FIRE  DRILLS 

The  provision  made  for  fire  drills  is  commendable.  A  fire  drill  at 
the  East  School  was  ffiven  at  the  request  of  the  committee  which  resulted 
in  the  emptying  of  the  buildinp,-  of  its  300  children  in  58  seconds.  The 
children  had  returned  to  their  rooms,  marching  to  music,  and  all 
doors  were  closed  with  classes  ready  to  work  within  two  and  one-half 
minutes  after  the  first  alarm  sounded. 

4.  SANITATION 

In  the  grades  hourly  blackboard  records  of  temperature  are  kept.  In 
spite  of  these  and  other  precautions  we  found  so  many  instances  in  the 
different  buildings  of  a  temperature  of  73  degrees  or  74  degrees  and  even 
76  degrees  that  we  believe  the  working  efficiency  of  pupils  and  teachers  is 
interfered  with  and  we  recommend  that  the  temperature  be  kept  at 
68  degrees  as  the  standard  with  a  permissible  range  of  two  degrees 
either  way,  and  that  means  be  found  for  making  permanent  a  temperature 
between  66  and  70  degrees. 

We  found  the  buildings  clean  and  neat  and  that  disinfectants  are 
used  frequently  in  corridors  and  toilets.  In  the  East  School  the  hallways 
and  corridors  are  cold  at  all  times.  It  would  be  an  improvement  if  heat 
were  provided  so  that  pupils  passing  from  class  rooms  to  basement  or 
from  room  to  room  would  not  experience  too  sudden  changes  in  tempera- 
ture. We  found  in  both  grade  buildings  that  the  stalls  in  the  toilets 
were  not  provided  with  doors.  The  advisability  of  providing  doors  for 
these  stalls  or  of  providing  a  sort  of  partition  or  screen,  placed  3  or 
4  feet  in  front  of  these  stalls  is  urged  by  the  committee.  The  committee 
believes  it  is  wise  to  conserve  the  natural  sensitiveness  of  childhood. 
The  objections  made  by  social  reformers  do  not  hold,  it  seems  to  us, 
against  our  recommendation  of  having  a  partition  or  screen  placed  in 
front  of  these   stalls. 

5.     REGULATION  OF  NOISE  FROM  THE  MANUAL 
TRAINING  ROOM 

The  manual  training  shops  at  the  high  school  are  placed  in  the 
basement.  The  class  rooms  meeting  directly  overhead  are  much  disturbed 
from  the  necessary  noise  arising  from  the  operations  of  the  manual 
training  classes.  This  condition  should  be  remedied  either  by  providing 
very  effective  deadening  for  the  floors  above  the  manual  training  rooms 
or  by  moving  the  manual  training  work  to  special  shop  rooms  to  be 
constructed  on  the  outside  of  the  main  building.  Since  it  is  only  a 
que.stion  of  a  little  time  until  the  present  high  school  building  will  be 
overcrowded,  the  committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  steps  should  be  taken 
soon  to  provide  a  suitable  frame  building  for  the  shopwork  erected 
somewhere  on  the  high  school  grounds.  We  further  .suggest  that  when 
this  project  is  undertaken,  the  boys  who  have  had  training  in  the  manual 
training  shops  of  the  high  school  should  be  employed  to  do  much  of 
the  work  under  the  direction  of  an  instructor  or  a  master  carpenter. 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


11 


6.     SPECIAL  DATA 

The  following  data  with  reference  to  the  buildintjs  and  j^rounds  shows 

definitely  the  provisions  that  have  been  made  for  the  Ashland  schools 
together  with  certain  items  of  cost  valuable  for  comparison. 

East  West  HiKh 

School  School  School 

Value  of  all  science  apparatus  and  equipment $1.^300 

Value  per  pupil  in  average  daily  attendance 7.61 

Total  No.  hours  janitor   and    engineer -services  per  week....           60  60  70 

Average   No.   pupils  per   hour,   of   service 6.8  6  3.4 

Weelily    cost    per    pupil    033  .044  .09 

Wetkly  cost  per  1,000  sq.   ft.  floor  space  cared  for 1.08  .774  .748 

Total    No.    hours   per    week    building    Is    used    by   pupils 

and    connnunity    37.5  37.5  50.0 

Cost  of  janitor  service  for  each  hour  of  use 36%  .43  .4o 

Cost    of    Janitor    service    each    hour    of    use    per    1,000 

cu.   ft.   of   iHiiiding  space   0017  .0011  .00088 

Cost  of  fuel  for  eacli  liour  of  pupils'    and    community's  use        .156  .216           

Cost  of  fuel  for  »-ach  liour  per  1,000  cu.  ft.  building  space  .00072  .000597  .....^.. 

Total  cu.   ft.   of  building  space    (used  or  usable) 215,740  372,645  508,372 

No.   cu.    ft.    per   pupil    523  1,226  2,117 

Size  of   school   site   in   sq.    ft 133,375  85,224  267,320 

Total  outdoor  play  space   in   sq.   ft 115,570  o3,497  173,938 

Total   school   garden   space  in   sq.   ft ■*   'Saa 

No.    sq.    ft.    per   pupil    _  200 

No.    toilet   seats   for   boys   "  o  e 

No.  toilet  seats  for  girls S  ?  ■> 

No.  times  per  year  recitation  rooms  are  scrubbed o  o  q 

No.  times  per  year  windows  are  washed 3  3  3 

No.  times  per  year  wafls  are  cleaned  or  brushed  down....  2  :.  - 
No.   times  per  week   erasers  are  thoroughly  cleaned  by 

janitors    1  i  i 

Chalk    ledges    J  \  }. 

Blackboards    sponged     Ill 

Total  No.  books  in  library  303  495  1.200 

No.   books  per  child   I."  1-3  5 

No.    books   of    fiction    126  14o  340 

No.    books    per    child    .3  .4  1.4 

Total  floor  space  in  recitation  rooms   (not  laboratories)      7,664  8,000  "•'^^J 

No.    sq.    ft.    per   pupil    18.1  21.7  1.9 

Floor    space    of    corridors    792  4,053  5,000 

No.  sq.  ft.  per  pupil  1-9  H  -'■ 

Total   window  area   in   recitation   rooms 996.8  1,176  J-JI^^ 

Total  floor  area   in   recitation   rooms 5.694  8,000  •"*•"■;„ 

Ratio  of  window   area   to   floor  area 17  .22  .LO 

No.    of   drinking   fountains   ■*  f  c« 

Average  No.  pupils  to  each  drinking  fountain 100  9i  bO 

No.  stationary  washlwsins  for  pupils'  use 4  4  16 

No.   pupils  per  washbasin   100  92  Id 


12 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  TEACHING  STAFF 

1.     GENERAL  STATEMENT 

In  p:reat  part  our  description  of  instruction  in  a  later  chapter  indicates 
the  efficiency  of  the  teaching  staff  of  the  Ashland  schools.  Favorable 
comment  upon  the  type  of  instruction  reflects  favorably  upon  the 
teaching  staff  while  the  reverse  is  equally  true.  Nevertheless,  whether 
instruction  be  good  or  bad,  it  is  a  matter  of  importance  to  note  in  so  far 
as  possible  the  peculiarities  of  the  teaching  staff  which  produces  the 
results  and  to  emphasize  such  characteristics  as  are  seemingly  related 
to  good  or  bad  teaching. 

The  unanimous  verdict  of  the  survey  committee  is  that  the  chief  cause 
of  the  efficiency  of  the  Ashland  school  system  is  to  be  found  in  its 
superintendent,  George  A.  Briscoe.  The  more  the  committee  has  studied 
existing  conditions  the  greater  has  become  its  admiration  for  the  head 
of  the  Ashland  schools.  He  is  superintendent  of  the  system  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  word.  Quiet,  dignified,  considerate,  we  have  found 
him  master  of  every  phase  of  administrative  work  with  time  left  over 
to  devote  to  class  instruction  and  clerical  duties.  In  short,  the  Ashland 
school  system  is  a  reflection  of  the  personality  of  its  most  excellent 
superintendent. 

2.    TRAINING,  EXPERIENCE  AND  RETENTION 

Tables  one  and  two  present  data  which  show  the  training  and  experi- 
ence of  the  grade  and  high  school  teachers. 

Table  One — Training  and  Experience  of  Ashland  High  School  Teachers. 


Teacher's  Name 


Graduated  High  School 
When  and  Where 


F.  E.   Moore,  Prin.  . 
Delmar   C.    Harmon 

Cordelia    Goffe    

Laura    McCormick   . 

•Otto   Klum    

Maude    Nissley    

•Madpre    Eubanks    ... 
W.    Hassinger    

G.  M.    Ruch  

L.  T.  Hodge  

C.    Kennard    


Astoria,   Oregon,    1903   

Peru,   Nebraska,    1911   

Medford,    Oregon,    1910   

Tabor,    Iowa,    1905    

Ashland,    Oregon,    1914    

Sterling,   Nebraska  

Ashland,    Oregon,    1911    

Denver,  Colorado,   1908  

Kugene,   Oregon,    1910   

Providence,  Kentucky,   1910 
New  Albany,  Indiana,  1907 


Anne   B.    Harris   !  Edgington,  Illinois,  1908 

Geo.  A.  Briscoe,  Supt.  ... ]    Marengo,  Indiana,   1887.. 


0 
0 
5 
2 
6 
1 
3 
0 
4 
8 
2 
22 


Graduates  of   local  high   school. 


ASHLAND   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 


13 


Table  Two — Traininff  and  Experience  of  Ashland  Elementary  School   Teachers. 


Teacher'*  Name 


Grailuateii  from  lligh  School 
When  »nd  Where 


G.  W.   Milam,   Prin. 


•G.   Engle  

M.    Power   

N.   B.  Ross  

♦B.    Eliason    

B.    Dunham    

E.    Alverson    

M.    Johnson    

M.   M.    Muir   

L.   Johnson   

S.    Brown    

*E.    Poley   

•E.   Hurley   

•C.  Morehouse 
•B.  Caldwell  .. 
A.  Thompson  ... 
G.    Updograf    ... 

I.   M.   Myers  

J.    Creekpaum 


Dripporv  Springs  Academy, 

Texas.    1886    

Ashland.    Oregon.    1898    


Ft.  Morgan.  Colorado,   1908 

Ashland,   Oregon,    1909    

Axlams,    Nebraska,    1905    .... 
Spencer,    Indiana,    1906   


Portland  Academy,   1908  .... 

Attended    ^    years   

Storm   Lake.  Iowa,   1906  .... 

Ashland.    Oregon.    1905    

2    years   in   Asiiland   

.Ashland,    Oregon.    1911    

Ashland,    Or«-gon,    1908    

St.  Louis,  Missouri,   1907  .... 
McMinnville,    Oregon,    1903 

Chariton,    Iowa,    1896    

Ulysses,    Nebraska,    1905.... 


% 


% 


% 


22 

15 

4 

4 
3 
6 
6 

8 
2 
1 


10 
1 
6 
8 
13 
15 
6 


12 
12 
2 
1 
0 
2 
1 
2 

0 
0 
4 
4 
5 
0 
4 
3 
5 


•  Graduates  of   local  high   school. 

The  two  tables  show  that  the  teachers  of  the  Ashland  schools  are 
well  prepared  by  way  of  training:  and  experience,  averag:ing:  well  above 
the  mean  found  in  cities  of  similar  size  in  the  west.  Including  all 
subjects  the  average  length  of  training  of  the  high  school  teachers  is 
over  3%  years  beyond  the  high  school,  while  in  every  instance  save  one 
the  standard  subjects  are  taught  by  university  graduates  with  profes- 
sional training.  The  medium  length  of  experience  for  the  high  school 
teachers  is  four  years.  This  is  the  same  as  found  in  the  high  schools 
of  the  middle  west  belonging  to  the  North  Central  Association  of 
Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools.  One-half  of  the  high  school  teachers 
are  new  this  year  in  Ashland.  This  is  an  undesirable  situation  but  is 
caused  partly  by  the  addition  of  new  departments.  School  work  is 
carried  on  to  greater  advantage  from  year  to  year  by  slight  changes 
in  the  teaching  staff,  rendering  as  little  readjustment  necessary  as 
possible  and  permitting  increasing  accommodation  to  the  local  environ- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  retained  instructors.  Conditions  are  bad  in 
this  respect  in  schools  throughout  the  country,  two  years  being  the 
median  term  of  tenure  in  similar  North  Central  high  schools,  although 
about  40  per  cent  of  the  teachers  stay  three  or  more  years. 

The  committee  recommends  that  the  present  high  school  staff  with 
possibly  one  or  two  exceptions  be  retained  for  several  years  and  that 
future  changes  occur  as  gradually  as  financial  pressure  will  permit. 

In  point  of  training,  experience,  and  local  retention  the  teaching  staff 
of  the  elementary  schools  is  commendable.  There  is  a  conspicuous 
absence  of  untrained  teachers,  while  the  average  experience  (seven  and 
two-thirds  years)  and  the  average  local  retention  (three  and  three- 
fourths  years)    are  unusually   high. 

3.     METHODS  OF  IMPROVEMENT 

The  survey  committee  made  careful  inquiry  into  the  methods  of 
improvement  which  were  being  used  by  the  Ashland  teachers.  They 
were  questioned  as  to  magazines  and  books  read    (both  pedagogical  and 


14  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


general),  teachers'  meetings  and  institutes  attended,  correspondence 
work,  summer  schools  and  special  courses  attended,  and  plans  for  self- 
improvement.  The  committee  found  much  to  commend.  Practically  every 
teacher  is  endeavoring  to  better  his  or  her  ability  as  a  teacher,  both  by 
reading  and  by  attendance  at  higher  institutions  of  learning.  One  rather 
serious  drawback  in  this  respect  for  those  who  plan  to  remain  progressive 
teachers  is  the  general  lack  of  records  of  methods  and  progress.  Few 
of  the  teachers  keep  records  of  their  plans  and  methods  of  teaching, 
depending  upon  the  text-books  or  course  of  study  to  supply  the  organiza- 
tion and  stimulus  for  preparation  of  lessons  from  year  to  year. 

The  committee  believes  that  a  permanent  written  record  of  such 
items  as  references,  materials  and  methods  used,  successes  and  failures 
of  attempted  plans,  when  and  where  to  get  teaching  accessories,  and 
similar  notes  of  class-room  procedure  will  prove  of  great  value  to  the 
growing  teacher  and  we  urge  more  general  use  of  what  may  be  called 
a  diary  of  plans  and  progress.  It  is  suggested  in  this  connection  that 
several  of  the  teachers  may  well  take  account  of  their  own  grammar  and 
pronunciation. 

We  have  described  the  spirit  of  cooperation  in  another  part  of  the 
report  but  it  seems  proper  to  emphasize  here  the  esprit  de  corps  of  the 
Ashland  body  of  teachers.  The  spirit  of  a  "common  cause"  is  every- 
where present  and  whether  it  be  athletic,  academic,  social,  or  cultural 
function,  mutual  friendship  and  common  endeavor  prevail  and  present 
ample  evidence  of  their  ultimate  worth. 

4.     SALARIES  OF  TEACHERS 
The  schedule  of  salaries  for  the  elementary  teachers  is  as  follows: 

First   Year  Second  Year  Third  Year  Fourth  Year 

$65.00  $70.00  $72.50  $75.00 

The  high  school  schedule  begins  at  $80.00  and  reaches  the  maximum 
of  $90.00  the  third  year.  There  is  no  schedule  for  principals  or  superin- 
tendents. At  present  the  superintendent  receives  $1,800  annually.  How 
this  compares  with  the  salaries  of  superintendents  in  other  cities  in  the 
first  class  districts  of  Oregon  outside  of  Portland  is  shown  in  Table  3. 
Ashland  ranks  twelfth  in  total  enrollment  and  is  tied  with  three  other 
cities  for  thirteenth  position  in  size  of  superintendent's  salary. 
Table    Three — Enrollment   and   Superintendents'   Salaries   in    Oregon   First-class 

Enrollment,   1913-14  Superintendents'    Salaries 

1.    Salem     3306         1.    Salem    $2,750 

*>     Eueene  2635         2.    Eugene      2,700 

I  Isforil  ::::::;:::: 1727     3.  Baker 2,400 

4.  Medford     1584  3.    La    Grande    2,400 

5.  Baker     1556  3.     Pendleton     2.400 

6.  La   Grande   1450  6.    A.stona      2,100 

7      Albanv                                       1292  7.     Albany      2.000 

-s."  corvaiHs "';:;:;;:::;::::::::: 1238     7.  McMinnvnie  2,000 

9.  Roseburg     1152  7.     Medford      2,000 

10.  Pendleton    1096  7.    The    Dalles    2,000 

11.  St.    Johns    1067  11.     St.     .Johns    1.950 

12.  Ashland     1034  12.    Oregon    City    1.900 

13.  Oregon   City  1015  13.    Ashland_  1,800 

14.  "  '"      ^ 


The   Dalles   1009  13.  Corvallis     1.800 

15.  Newberg    913  13.  Grants   Pass    1,800 

16.  Klamath    Falls    899  13.  Klamath   Falls   1,800 

17.  Grants    Pass    845  17.  Roseburg      1,500 

18.  McMlnnville    830  18.  Newberg    1,350 

19.  Dallas    670  19.  Dallas     1.200 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


15 


Ashland  pays  its  hiph  school  principal  $1,250  annually  and  its  errade 
principals  $1,000  annually.  Table  4  shows  how  this  compares  with  similar 
salaries  in  other  Orep:on  first-class  districts.  As  aj^ainst  twelfth  in 
enrollment,  Ashland  is  thirteenth  in  salary  of  hiph  school  principal  and 
seventh   in  salary  of  g'rade  principal. 

Ashland  pays  to  its  hiph  .school  teachers  an  averapre  annual  salary  of 
$742  and  to  its  tirade  teachers  an  average  annual  salary  of  $680.  Table  5 
shows  that  Ashland  ranks  seventeenth  in  average  high  school  salary  and 
twelfth  in  average  grade  salary. 

Table   Four — Salaries  of  Principals  in   Oregon  First-class  Districts. 
High    School    Principal's    Salary 

1.  Eugene     $2,000 

2.  Klamath   Falls  1,800 

3.  Salem      1.600 

4.  Pendleton     1,500 

4.    Astoria     1,500 

4.    The    Dalles    1.500 

4.     Medford      1,500 

4.    Corvallis     1.500 

4.    Roseburg    1.500 

10.  St.   Johns   1,400 

11.  La    Grande    1,350 

12.  Albany      1,300 

13.  Ashland    1.250 

14.  Baker    1.215 

15.  Oregon    City    1,200 

15.     McMinnville     1,200 

17.  Newberg     855 

18.  No    principal    

19.  No    principal    


Elementary    School    Principal's   Salary 

1.  P^ugene     $1,200 

2.  Ortgon    City   1.150 

3.  St.   Johns   1.092 

4.  Astoria      1.050 

5.  Salem      1.043 

6.  Medford    1,025 

7.  Ashland 1,000 

8.  Ro.seburg     967 

9.  The    Dalles    900 

10.  Baker    855 

11.  Pendleton     855 

12.  Corvallis     825 

13.  Albany    795 

14.  Klamath     Falls    788 

15.  La    Grande    780 

16.  Newberg     765 

17.  Grants    Pass   765 

18.  McMinnville     700 

19.  Dallas   585 


Table    Five — Average   Salaries   of   Teachers  in   Oregon   First-class  Districts. 


Average   Salary   Grade  Teacher 

1.  Oregon    City    $  879 

2.  The    Dalles    764 

3.  St.   Johns   760  3. 

4.  Astoria     750  4. 

5.  Eugene      731  5. 

6.  Salem    723  6. 

7.  La    Grande    715  6. 

8.  Pendleton     701  8. 

9.  Klamath    Falls   686  9. 

10.  Medford    678  10. 

11.  AU>any    676  11. 

12.  Ashland    630  12. 

13.  Baker    630  13. 

14.  Roseburg    «21  14. 

15.  CorvalHs     615  15. 

16.  Grants    Pass   591  16. 

17.  McMinnville     585  17. 

18.  Dallas   540  18. 

19.  Newberg     514  19. 


Average  Salary  High  School  Teacher 

1.  Klamath    Falls   $1,299 

2.  La    Grande    1.069 

The    Dalles    1.009 

St.    Johns  1.007 


Medford    988 

Pendleton     971 

Baker   971 

Astoria     942 

Salem    935 

Eugene    909 

Roseburg    905 

Albany    837 

Corvallis     815 

Grants   Pass   808 

Oregon    City    806 

McMinnville     765 

A.shland     742 

Dalla.s     698 

Newberg     698 


The  committee  believes  that  the  city  of  Ashland  is  getting  full 
measure  for  money  paid  to  its  teaching  staff.  While  its  salary  budget 
is  not  as  heavy  as  in  many  other  first-class  districts,  it  is  undoubtedly 
true  that  this  deficiency  is  made  up  by  the  vigor  and  discrimination 
with  which  the  superintendent  seeks  out  new  teaching  talent,  a  condition 
made  possible  by  the  commendable  non-interference  of  the  school  board. 
In  this  respect  there  is  a  desirably  limited  number  of  local  graduates  in 
the  teaching  staff,  all  of  whom  have  taken  work  elsewhere  and  who  are 
well  up  to  the  average  of  the  entire  group  of  teachers. 

The  committee  does  not  recommend  a  general  increase  in  salaries  at 
present,  but  it  suggests  to  the  board  the  advisability  of  making  occasional 
specific  increases  to  the  best  members  of  the  teaching  staff  rather  than 
lose  them  to  other  districts. 


16  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

CHAPTER    III 

THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY  IN  ITS  RELA- 
TION TO  THE  EDUCATIONAL 
NEEDS  OF  ASHLAND 

1.     THE  COMMUNITY  AND  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL 
GRADUATE 

Each  community  presents  its  own  educational  problems.  In  attempt- 
ing to  get  some  lip^ht  upon  the  needs  of  Ashland  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  pupils  themselves,  certain  information  was  collected  from  the  members 
of  the  senior  class  in  the  high  school  and  from  members  of  the  eighth 
grade  classes.  From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  population  of  Ashland 
does  not  fluctuate  seriously.  Of  the  42  members  of  the  senior  class, 
including  those  doing  post-graduate  work,  only  eight  have  attended 
school  in  Ashland  less  than  four  years,  and  34  have  attended  school  in 
Ashland  four  or  more  years. 

These  pupils  were  asked  what  they  expected  to  do  next  year.  To 
this  12  replied  that  they  expected  to  attend  college  or  university,  seven 
expect  to  do  post-graduate  work  in  the  local  high  school,  six  expect  to 
work  and  some  of  these  are  working  with  a  view  to  gaining  funds  for  a 
future  education.  Two  expect  to  attend  normal  school,  seven  expect  to 
teach  and  eight  were  uncertain.  To  the  question,  "Have  you  definitely 
decided  on  a  life  occupation?",  15  replied  "Yes,"  24  replied  "No,"  and 
three  gave  a  qualified  answer.  An  opportunity  was  given  for  those  who 
were  in  doubt  to  express  what  they  now  considered  their  preference  of 
occupation.  These  preferences,  including  those  who  answered  positively 
are  as  follows:  Teaching  16,  business  5,  agriculture  2,  engineering  2, 
and  one  each  cartooning,  civil  service,  law,  librarian,  draftsman,  artist, 
physician,  metal  worker,  stenographer,  journalist;  and  one  expressed  the 
intention  of  trying  several  things.  Also  six  expressed  themselves  as 
doubtful.  To  the  question,  "Do  you  expect  to  make  Ashland  your  future 
home?",  22  answered  "No,"  12  "Yes,"  and  8  were  doubtful. 

Those  who  expect  to  remain  in  Ashland  gave  several  reasons  reflect- 
ing intense  loyalty  and  pride  in  the  community,  some  saying,  "It  is  the 
best  place  in  the  world,"  others  expressing  confidence  as  to  its  future 
when  the  springs  are  developed.  Of  those  who  do  not  expect  to  make 
their  future  home  in  Ashland,  several  gave  as  their  reason  that  there 
were  no  occupational  opportunities  or  that  there  were  no  opportunities 
for  their  particular  line  of  work. 

The  statistics  obtained  from  the  eighth  grade  class  will  not  be  given 
in  detail  as  they  have  the  same  general  tendencies.  73  of  the  76  expect 
to  be  in  school  next  year.  The  other  three  expect  to  work.  16  have 
already  decided  to  become  teachers,  10  to  become  farmers,  5  engineers, 
5  will  enter  business,  6  nursing,  and  18  occupations  claimed  from  one 
to  four  each.  43  out  of  the  76  expressed  themselves  as  not  definitely 
decided  upon  an  occupation. 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  17 

There  is  no  one  larpfe  industry  in  tiiis  community  attracting  young 
people  in  larpe  numbers.  There  is  a  population  above  the  average  in 
intelligence  and  a  large  appreciation,  both  on  the  part  of  parents  and 
children,  of  the  advantages  of  a  good  general  education.  So  far  as'  the 
young  people  have  shown  an  inclination  towards  their  future  occupations, 
the  figures  point  quite  overwhelmingly  toward  the  occupations  in  which 
a  good  general  education  is  essential. 

Basing  our  opinion  upon  the  character  of  the  population,  the  limited 
industrial  opportunities  and  the  bent  and  inclination  of  the  pupils  them- 
selves, we  feel  convinced  that  the  main  effort  of  the  educational  authori- 
ties in  Ashland  should  be  directed  toward  maintaining  strong  cour.ses  in 
so-called  academic  branches  with  fundamentals,  character,  mental  disci- 
pline and  culture  as  the  chief  aims.  There  are,  however,  other  educational 
needs  so  fundamentally  important  in  the  community  that  they  should  be 
considered  as  almost  equally  important  with  the  foregoing.  We  refer  to 
physical  education  and  industrial  education.  These  are  discussed  below. 
Important  as  it  is  that  those  who  are  to  go  into  the  professions  and  into 
business  and  technical  occupations  calling  for  extensive  preparatory 
education  should  be  provided  for,  there  is  also  an  imperative  demand 
that  those  who  would  enter  the  so-called  humbler  occupations  should 
have  provision  made  for  their  specific  needs. 

The  fact  that  twenty-seven  of  the  forty-two  high  school  seniors  and 
forty-three  of  the  seventy-six  eighth  grade  pupils  are  still  very  much 
in  doubt  as  to  their  preferences  for  an  occupation  seems  to  argue  for 
some  sort  of  provision  for  vocational  guidance  in  order  that  the  choice 
of  an  occupation  may  be  intelligently  made  when  the  time  comes. 

While  following  the  State  Course  of  Study  as  a  general  guide,  there 
is  much  evidence  that  the  Ashland  course  has  been  worked  out  with  the 
particular  needs  of  Ashland  young  people  in  mind. 


2.     VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION 

Under  this  caption  we  include  a  discussion  of  the  commercial  work 
in  the  high  school,  the  teacher  training  course,  and  the  industrial  work 
carried  on  in  both  grades  and  the  high  school. 

Commercial  Training.— The  commercial  work  in  the  high  school 
includes  a  one-year  course  each  in  bookkeeping,  typewriting,  shorthand, 
penmanship  and  spelling,  with  an  additional  year  each  in  bookkeeping 
and  shorthand.  Students  are,  under  certain  circumstances,  permitted 
to  double  up  on  commercial  work  and  take  a  two-year  course.  At  the 
present  time  there  are  31  enrolled  in  bookkeeping,  28  in  shorthand, 
78  in  typewriting,  while  over  100  are  taking  penmanship  and  spelling. 

There  probably  are  in  the  city  of  Ashland  25  positions  for  stenogra- 
phers and  15  positions  for  bookkeepers.  It  would  therefore  seem  that 
possibly  this  branch  of  work  is  being  overdone  and  that  many  of  the 
young  people  will  be  disappointed.  Upon  inquiring  among  the  students 
the  committee  learned  that  many  of  the  students  look  upon  this  work 
as  a  stepping-stone  to  some  other  occupation.  Some  count  on  making 
use  of  it  while  doing  college  work  and  others  are  looking  toward  the 
civil    service.      However,   we  believe   that  the   school    authorities   will    be 


18  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

justified  in  hedgfing:  about  to  a  certain  extent  the  privilege  of  taking 
these  courses.  For  instance,  excellent  preparation  in  penmanship  should 
be  a  prerequisite  for  bookkeeping  and  an  inquiry  into  the  purpose  of 
each  applicant  might  well  be  made  to  prevent  pupils  enrolling  in  type- 
writing because  it  is  new  or  attractive  and  without  a  more  serious 
purpose.  The  equipment  and  character  of  the  work  being  done  in 
this  department  justifies  us  in  saying  that  the  department  is  meeting 
a  real  vocational  end  and  meeting  it  in  a  good  way. 

Teacher  Training. — The  chief  vocational  activity  of  the  Ashland 
schools  is  devoted  to  the  Teachers'  Training  Course  which,  therefore, 
merits  specific  treatment  in  the  report.  The  emphasis  given  to  this 
course  relates  directly  to  the  vocational  opportunities  of  the  community. 
Twelve  of  the  graduates  of  the  high  school  Normal  Training  Course  in 
1914  are  now  teaching  at  salaries  ranging  from  $55  to  $80  per  month. 
Teaching  careers  lead  as  the  choice  of  both  high  school  students  and 
eighth  grade  pupils.  The  Oregon  school  law  provides  that  a  one-year 
State  certificate  (renewable  only  once)  shall  be  granted  without  exami- 
nations to  applicants  who  have  completed  four  years'  work  in  an 
accredited  high  school  upon  completion  of  the  teachers'  training  course. 

Among  other  requirements,  the  law  provides  that  the  course  in 
Teachers'   Training  shall  consist  of: 

(a)  A  review  of  at  least  nine  weeks  each  in  reading,  grammar, 
arithmetic,  and  geography. 

(b)  A   study  of  American  history. 

(c)  At  least  twenty  periods  of  professional  training  to  include  a 
study  of  methods,  school  management,  and  observation  work. 

The  class  is  also  required  to  take  elementary  agriculture,  spend  at 
least  one  hour  a  day  for  at  least  sixteen  weeks  in  observation  and  practice 
work,  and  such  other  work  as  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
may  require.  This  regime  has  been  somewhat  modified  in  practice  by 
the  interpretation  of  the  State  Superintendent,  but  in  spirit  is  carried 
out  both  in  the  superintendent's  instructions  and  by  the  Ashland  schools. 

One  year  in  civics  and  American  history  is  required  and  may  be 
taken  in  the  junior  year.  One  and  one-half  units  of  professional  training 
are  required  in  the  senior  year.  This  embraces  the  following  three 
courses,  each  the  equivalent  of  one-half  a  unit,  i.  e.,  one-fourth  of  the 
student's  entire  work  for  one-half  of  one  year: 

(1)  Methods,  school  management,  etc.  (a)  Nine  weeks'  work  follow- 
ing Strayer's  "Brief  Course"  and  O'Shea's  "Everyday  Problems."  (b)  Nine 
weeks'  work  in  Oregon  school  law  and  history  of  education,  (lectures 
from    Monroe). 

(2)  Professional  reviews.  (a)  Nine  weeks,  Watson  and  White's 
Complete  Arithmetic,  all  topics  not  exempted  by  State  in  eighth  grade 
examinations,     (b)    Nine  weeks,  Kimball's  Elementary  English,  Book  II. 

(.3)  Observation  and  practice  teaching.  Fifteen  weeks  in  the  elemen- 
tary grades.  In  connection  with  (3),  the  first  two  days  in  each  week 
are  given  to  observation  of  the  work  of  a  regular  teacher,  the  second 
two  days  to  teaching,  and  the  fifth  day  to  writing  a  report.  Lesson 
plans  must  be  submitted  in  advance  which  are  satisfactory  to  the 
regular  teacher,  and  cadet  teachers  must  do  standard  teaching  or  with- 
draw from  the  course. 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  19 


Wherever  normal  school  or  university  training:  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  prospective  teachers,  the  committee  recommends  the  hipfh  school 
training  course.  We  believe  that  the  Ashland  course  is  well  arranpred 
and  efficiently  administered.  The  hearty  cooperation  of  the  p:rade 
principals  and  teachers  greatly  strengthens  the  local  course.  The  course, 
moreover,  meets  a  present  vocational  demand  and,  in  our  opinion,  is 
decidedly  superior  as  a  criterion  for  certification  to  the  examination 
system  also  in  operation  in  the  State  of  Oregon. 

The  high  school  training  course  is  an  agency  adapted  to  the  training 
of  rural  teachers  and  its  completion  should  not  certify  graduates  to 
teach  in  city  schools  or  in  one,  two  or  three-year  high  schools.  We 
advise  prospective  teachers  who  plan  to  take  advanced  work  in  a  Normal 
School  or  in  a  university  to  defer  the  professional  training  until  they 
reach  such  institution.  This  will  add  approximately  two  units  to  the 
cultural  work  in  the  high  school  and  permit  the  student  to  take  his 
professional  training  at  a  more  mature  age. 

At  present  there  is  but  a  single  normal  school  in  Oregon,  which  is 
situated  at  Monmouth.  The  Monmouth  Normal  is  so  far  distant  from 
the  counties  of  Southern  Oregon  that  only  a  few  students  are  attracted 
from  this  region.  Some  years  ago  there  was  also  a  normal  school  at 
Ashland  which  was  legislated  out  of  existence.  The  buildings  still  remain 
but  are  vacant.  In  light  of  the  numbers  of  possible  teachers  to  be 
trained  in  Southern  Oi-egon  and  who  are  now  receiving  limited  training, 
the  committee  desires  to  go  on  record  as  favoring  the  re-establishment 
of  a  State  normal  school  at  Ashland. 

Domestic  Science  and  Manual  Training. — All  the  girls  in  the 
sixth  and  seventh  grades  are  enrolled  in  sewing  classes  and  all  the  girls 
in  the  first  year  of  high  school  do  sewing  with  their  regular  course. 
In  addition  to  this  a  one-year  elective  course  is  offered.  A  minimum  of 
time  is  spent  upon  working  models  and  the  classes  are  wisely,  we  think, 
set  at  work  early  upon  useful  articles.  The  courses  are  logically  arranged 
and  are  being  well  carried  out.  During  the  first  year  of  high  school 
these  girls  make  one  complete  outfit  of  underwear,  two  dresses,  have 
some  work  in  crocheting,  some  fancy  work,  draft  patterns  and  do  fitting. 
The  second  year  they  study  household  decoration,  make  a  study  of 
materials  and  make  a  tailored  suit. 

Cooking  is  taught  to  all  eighth  grade  girls  and  to  all  girls  in  second 
year  of  high  school  with  one  additional  year  elective.  The  accommoda- 
tions of  cooking  and  sewing  in  the  high  school  are  not  adequate  to  the 
real  needs  of  the  large  classes.  As  it  is,  much  of  the  work  has  to  be 
done  by  girls  sitting  in  ordinary  recitation  chairs  without  tables,  there 
being  insufficient  room  for  the  tables.  The  cooking  department  could 
make  use  of  a  dining  room,  although  the  present  arrangement  by  which 
one  of  the  sewing  rooms  is  used  for  a  dining  room  is  not  a  serious 
handicap. 

Manual  training  is  taught  in  the  sixth,  seventh  and  eighth  grades 
and  for  two  years  in  the  high  school.  The  work  is  confined  to  wood 
work  and  drawing.  The  interest  in  the  classes  seems  to  be  good.  The 
boys  are  allowed  much  choice  as  to  the  articles  which  they  shall  make 
and  this  tends  to  keep  the  interest  high.  There  seems  to  the  committee 
to  be  a  lack  of  real  vocational  purpose  in  this  department  and  we  believe 


20-  .  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


that  boys  should  be  encouraged  to  master  the  elements  of  the  carpenter's 
trade,  cabinet  maker's  trade  or  other  wood  working  trades,  and  that 
definite  undertakings  should  be  launched  from  time  to  time  in  more 
pretentious  constructive  work.  It  is  entirely  possible  for  two  or  three 
groups  of  boys  to  be  working  at  the  same  time  on  different  courses, 
some  taking  conventional  manual  training  work,  some  working  toward 
carpentry,  others  toward  furniture  making,  etc.,  all  being  directed  by 
the  same  instructor.  Excellent  work  is  being  done  in  mechanical  drawing 
in  connection  with  this  department. 

Agriculture. — In  agriculture  the  Ashland  schools  are  complying  with 
the  State  requirement  that  agriculture  shall  be  taught  in  the  eighth 
grade.  This  course  is  organized  with  the  manual  training  course  in  such 
a  way  that  a  portion  of  the  students  are  working  in  the  school  gardens 
while  others  are  working  in  the  shop.  The  boys  are  permitted  to  have 
what  they  raise  and  are  encourag'ed  to  develop  gardens  of  their  owri  at 
home.  There  is  also  a  high  school  course  in  agriculture  covering  one 
semester.  This  course  is  based  upon  a  text,  is  taught  in  the  laboratory 
and  is  supplemented  by  work  in  the  high  school  garden.  Instruction  is 
given  by  the  regular  biology  teacher. 

The  Vocational  Problem. — The  problem  in  vocational  work  in 
Ashland  is  not  the  same  that  would  be  encountered  in  an  industrial  center. 
Nevertheless,  Ashland  has  its  vocational  needs  and  while  the  committee 
has  nothing  but  praise  for  the  development  that  has  been  made  in 
providing  for  these  needs,  we  desire  to  recommend  that  the  vocational 
aim  be  made  more  pronounced  in  the  shop  work.  The  agricultural  work 
should  be  placed  upon  a  firm  basis  with  the  supervision  of  home  gardens, 
and  poulti-y  raising  clubs  on  the  part  of  boys  and  girls  from  both  grades 
and  high  school  made  a  prominent  feature.  We  recommend  that  wherever 
possible  the  boys  taking  the  manual  training  course  be  given  work  on 
the  making  of  furniture,  running  partitions,  doing  repair  woi-k  or 
erecting  buildings,  for  the  schools.  This  will  afford  excellent  educational 
opportunities  for  such  boys. 

3.    PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

Making  a  study  of  the  physical  education  in  the  Ashland  schools,  the 
committee  found  that  no  supervisor  or  special  teacher  was  employed 
for  this  work. 

In  the  Grades. — The  teachers  are  directed  to  give  calisthenic  exer- 
cises when  children  show  evidence  of  fatigue  or  restlessness.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  find,  upon  investigation,  that  while  teachers  mean 
to  conscientiously  carry  out  this  plan,  in  many  rooms  these  exercises 
are  not  given  with  regularity  or,  indeed,  with  frequency.  A  teacher 
interested  in  her  work  and  pressed  for  time  to  accomplish  results  is 
not  always  conscious  of  this  need. 

Recess. — The  morning  session  begins  at  8:45  and  continues  until 
11:30,  when  an  intermission  of  an  hour  and  a  half  is  given.  The  after- 
noon session  continues  from  1:00  until  3:40.  These  sessions  are  broken 
by  short  rest  periods  of  not  exceeding  five  or  six  minutes.     The  pupils 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  21 

pass  out  or  to  the  basement  but  no  play  or  physical  exercise  is  indulged 
in  durinff  this  rest  period.  No  other  recess  is  provided  for  in  the  grades. 
The  advisability  of  a  so-called  wild  recess  in  the  grades  is  perhaps 
debatable.  The  committee  is  inclined  to  favor  such  a  recess  about  the 
middle  of  each  school  session  but  recognizes  the  fact  that  it  is  perhaps 
more  or  less  a  local  question.  The  committee  is  emphatic  in  recommend- 
ing that  in  the  absence  of  a  recess  there  should  be  from  five  to  ten 
minutes  of  vigorous,  enjoyable  calisthenic  exercises  about  the  middle 
of  each  session  regularly  or  a  run  into  the  open  air  for  a  similar  length 
of  time.  We  also  recommend  that  during  all  or  part  of  such  time  the 
windows  of  each  room  be  thrown  open  so  as  to  thoroughly  flush  the 
class  rooms  v/ith  fresh  air  from  the  outside.  If  at  a  given  signal,  the 
windows  are  thrown  open  in  all  the  rooms  at  once  it  will  not  interfere 
with  the  ventilating  system  and  if  the  windows  are  not  kept  open  too 
long  it  will  not  cool  the  walls  sufficiently  to  prove  an  extravagance 
in  the  matter  of  fuel. 

High  School. — The  high  school  is  fortunate  in  having  a  gymnasium, 
size  .57x90  feet,  well  adapted  for  carrying  on  systematic  instruction  in 
physical  education  and  also  well  adapted  for  basketball,  volley  ball,  and 
indoor  baseball.  At  the  present  time  no  class  work  in  the  gymnasium  is 
undertaken  but  large  use  is  made  of  the  gymnasium  in  connection  with 
the  athletic  activities  of  both  boys  and  girls.  It  would  seem  to  the 
committee  that  the  next  step  in  physical  education  would  be  to  make 
provision  for  class  instruction  in  gymnasium  work  and  at  the  same  time 
provision  should  be  made  for  supervision  of  physical  training  in  the 
grade  schools.  A  physical  training  teacher  or  supervisor  who  appreciates 
the  possibilities  of  this  kind  of  work  can  be  of  great  assistance,  not  only 
in  improving  the  bearing  and  physical  health  of  the  children,  but  in 
quickening  their  mental  and  moral  activity. 

Athletics. — The  committee  found  that  both  in  the  grades  and  high 
school  the  athletic  activities  of  boys  and  girls  were  wisely  encouraged. 
In  the  grades,  baseball,  basketball,  volley  ball  and  tennis,  with  the 
running  games  for  little  folks,  such  as  blackman,  tag,  etc.,  are  being 
played  under  the  direction  and  supervision  of  principals  and  teachers. 
In  each  grade  building  two  teachers  assist  in  this  work  both  noon  and 
evening.  In  the  high  school,  football,  basketball,  tennis,  baseball,  and 
the  various  track  events  are  being  carried  on  under  faculty  supervision 
and  direction.  The  spacious  grounds  referred  to  in  the  chapter  on 
buildings  and  grounds  are  a  great  boon  to  these  activities  in  both  the 
high  school  and  grades. 

4.     INCIDENTAL  CIVIC  CONDITIONS 

From  the  chief  of  police  it  was  learned  that  during  the  past  two 
years  two  juvenile  offenders  have  been  sent  to  the  State  Training  or 
Reform  School.  At  one  time  during  1914,  eighteen  different  boys  were 
on  probation  making  regular  reports,  most  of  them  having  been  in  an 
escapade  not  of  a  really  criminal  nature.  There  have  been  some  cases 
of  stealing  during  the  past  two  years.  These  boys  who  have  been  in 
the    hands    of    the    police    for    stealing,    truancy    or    depredations    and 


22  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

escapades  have,  so  the  chief  of  police  testifies,  always  spoken  highly 
of  their  teachers  and  the  schools.  At  the  time  of  this  investigation  no 
juveniles  were  on  probation  and  no  cases  of  truancy  have  been  reported 
during  the  current  school  year.  All  the  evidence  obtained  from  this 
investigation  indicates  that  the  schools  are  gaining  a  stronger  and 
stronger  hold  on  the  boys  and  are  doing  all  that  can  be  reasonably 
expected  of  them  in  this  respect. 

Interviews  were  had  with  several  mothers  and  several  business  men. 
Without  exception  these  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  appreciation  of 
the  schools,  expressing  the  greatest  confidence  in  the  school  board, 
superintendent  and  teachers.  Upon  being  pressed  for  suggestions  as 
to  how  the  schools  might  be  improved,  several  suggestions  were  made. 
One  thought  that  there  was  not  enough  analysis  of  problems  in  the 
intermediate  grades.  Another  thought  high  school  pupils  were  worked 
too  hard.  One  mother  expressed  some  disappointment  that  her  boy  did 
not  get  a  great  deal  of  good  from  one  certain  subject  but  was  working 
hard  and  doing  well  in  other  subjects.  One  mother  considered  the  history 
work  too  difficult  in  the  fifth  grade.  One  mother,  prominent  in  the 
Parent-Teachers  Association  work,  expressed  herself  in  much  the  same 
way  as  Superintendent  Briscoe  expressed  himself  to  the  effect  that  the 
Parent-Teachers  Association  did  good  but  failed  to  reach  the  parents 
who  would  be  most  benefited. 

One  mother  was  very  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  the  children  without 
home  conditions  where  it  was  possible  for  them  to  receive  some  help  in 
their  studies  could  not  be  adequately  taken  care  of  in  the  schools  as  now 
constituted.  She  considers  that  not  only  the  Ashland  schools  but  schools 
generally  are  inadequate  in  meeting  the  needs  of  the  children  that  cannot 
have  the  work  of  the  school  supplemented  by  assistance  at  home.  This  is 
food  for  thought  and  a  recommendation  contained  elsewhere  in  this 
report  if  carried  out  would  make  provision  for  auxiliary  work  done  by 
regular  teachers  with  such  pupils  as  need  it  in  every  room  while  special 
teachers  of  music  and  drawing  have  charge  of  their  rooms.  The  idea 
of  having  more  physical  training  in  the  schools  and  of  no  recesses  met 
the  approval  of  the  parents  questioned  upon  this  matter. 

An  excellent  plan  of  cooperation  between  the  city  library  and  the 
Ashland  schools  is  in  operation.  A  written  contract  exists  between  the 
two  institutions  according  to  the  terms  of  which  the  district  pays  the 
city  library  a  certain  sum  each  year,  of  which  a  portion  is  to  be  spent 
for  children's  books  and  the  remainder  to  be  used  to  pay  the  expense 
of  cataloging  and  repairing  the  books  in  the  school  libraries.  The 
teachers  are  permitted  to  draw  any  reasonable  number  of  books  from 
the  libi-ary  and  take  them  to  their  schools  for  the  use  of  the  children. 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  23 

CHAPTER   IV 

INSTRUCTION,  METHODS  AND 
SUPERVISION 

The  actual  vitality  of  a  school  system  varies  directly  with  the  quality 
of  its  instruction.  The  structure  of  a  school  system  is  important  because 
it  supports  and  renders  possible  the  functioning  processes  within,  but  in 
itself  is  no  guarantee  of  life  and  activity.  Teaching  is  the  life  blood 
of  the  educational  process  and  the  measurement  of  the  daily  current  of 
instruction  is  the  surest  index  of  the  virility  of  the  entire  system.  The 
committee  has,  therefore,  given  the  largest  share  of  its  attention  to  the 
factor   of    instruction. 

1.     GENERAL  METHODS  AND  RESULTS  OF 
INSTRUCTION 

On  the  first  day  of  the  survey  the  members  of  the  committee  in 
company  with  Superintendent  Briscoe  visited  each  class  room  in  the 
two  grade  buildings  and  all  but  three  of  the  high  school  teachers.  These 
short  visits  were  followed  on  the  following  days  by  at  least  one  longer 
visit  to  each  class  room,  the  members  of  the  committee  working  separately. 
These  visits  were  made  delightful  by  the  uniform  courtesy  of  the  super- 
intendent, principals  and  teachers,  by  the  manifest  devotion  of  teachers 
to  their  tasks,  and  by  the  wholesome  cheerful  atmosphere  of  work 
prevailing  in  the  system  as  a  whole. 

Teaching  the  Child. — While  the  Ashland  schools  are  conforming  to 
the  requirements  of  their  local  course  of  study  and  to  the  State  require- 
ments, which  apply  to  certain  districts  of  the  first  class,  it  is  the  opinion 
of  the  committee  that  it  would  be  unfair  to  say  that  the  Ashland 
teachers  were  teaching  subject-matter  rather  than  children.  Teachers 
are  aware  of  the  child's  viewpoint,  adapting  their  instruction  to  the 
individual  pupils  in  a  way  which  shows  real  sympathetic  insight  into 
the  workings  of  the  child's  mind.  These  characteristics  stand  out  in  the 
work  of  teachers  both  in  the  grades  and  high  school. 

One  of  the  evidences  of  this  is  the  manner  of  criticizing  imperfect 
recitations  in  such  a  way  as  to  encourage  and  inspire  to  better  efforts 
rather  than  to  discourage  or  humiliate.  Out  of  several  similar  instances 
two  are  here  cited  to  illustrate  how  this  is  done.  In  a  second  grade  a 
boy  misspelled  "thirsty"  and  had  to  go  from  midway  to  the  foot  of  the 
class.  The  teacher  remarked  kindly,  "Go  down  now  but  next  time  you 
will  get  it."  A  moment  later  she  selected  this  same  boy  and  one  other 
pupil  to  play  a  prominent  part  in  the  class  going  to  the  blackboard  to 
point  out  words. 

The  members  of  a  high  school  class  in  English  Composition,  working 
under  a  really  excellent  assignment,  were  reading  original  stories  based 
on  a  previously  approved  original  plot.  One  pupil  read  a  story  which 
left   his   hero   a   pretty   ordinary   character   with    much   to   condemn   and 


24  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

little  to  admire.  The  language  was  rather  stilted.  The  teacher,  instead 
of  telling  him  he  had  written  a  poor  story  or  in  any  way  inciting  a 
derisive  attitude  in  the  class,  said,  "I  don't  believe  I  quite  understand 
the  meaning  of  some  of  your  hero's  actions  in  the  last  part  of  the  story 
but  you  can  explain  that  to  me  when  we  look  your  paper  over  together. 
Do  you  think  your  language  was  sufficiently  different  from  the  language 
of  the  plot?"  Pupil,  "No  Ma'am."  Further  adroit  but  kindly  questioning 
made  the  pupil  aware  of  exact  weakness  of  his  story  and  left  him 
anxious  to  improve  it.  The  way  was  thus  prepared  for  a  helpful, 
sympathetic  conference  with  the  pupil   later. 

This  rational  and  sympathetic  appreciation  of  the  pupils'  point  of 
view  is  commended.  It  should,  however,  be  remembered  that  this  attitude 
is  not  inconsistent  with  a  policy  of  exacting  a  definite  compliance  with 
the  requirements  of  a  high  standard  of  excellence  in  work  and  indeed 
it  is  evident  that  most  of  the  Ashland  teachers  are  conscious  of  both 
ideals. 

School  Spirit. — Among  the  notable  results  attending  the  class  room 
instruction  upon  which  the  committee  feels  justified  in  speaking  positively 
is  an  intangible  something  which  might  be  called  the  Spirit  of  the  School. 
The  spiritual  product  is  large.  There  is  a  cheerfulness  and  a  joy  in 
work,  a  fullness  of  life  and  a  contentedness  evidenced  in  almost  every 
room  in  the  Ashland  schools.  Interest  in  work  and  an  almost  entire 
absence  of  any  "problem  of  discipline"  tend  to  confirm  the  minds  of  the 
members  of  the  committee  in  the  belief  that  the  "Spirit  of  the  School" 
above  referred  to  is  a  very  real  as  well  as  a  very  valuable  product  of 
the  school. 

Fundamentals,  Reading. — The  practical  subjects  of  writing,  spelling, 
arithmetic,  and  reading  are  being  well  taken  care  of.  One  class  that  had 
just  finished  the  second  grade  read  such  words  as  professor,  Oxford, 
awkward,  pretending,  etc.,  as  they  appeared  in  the  context  without  any 
hesitation  but  rather  with  fluency.  A  class  that  had  just  finished 
first  grade  and  been  two  weeks  in  the  second  grade  read  from  the 
blackboard  the  following  sentences  furnished  the  teacher  by  a  member 
of  the  committee,  "Mr.  Briscoe  is  superintendent  of  the  Ashland  schools," 
"Mr.  Engle  is  president  of  the  First  National  Bank." 

These  sentences  were  read  by  several  members  of  the  class  with  no 
assistance  whatever,  the  pupils  interpreting  the  difficult  words  by 
silently  sounding  them  out.  The  same  test  was  given  another  class  of 
the  same  grade  in  another  building  with  equally  good  results.  Several 
tests  made  in  these  and  other  grades  confirmed  the  committee  in  the 
opinion  that  the  power  which  the  children  in  these  schools  are  gaining 
over  new  words  is  all  that  could  be  expected  or  desired.  We  do  not 
advise  attempting  to  improve  the  record  now  being  made  in  this  respect, 
believing  that  such  effort  would  result  in  crowding  the  children  too  hard. 
Indeed,  there  is  serious  question  if  the  course  of  study  being  followed 
in  the  first  grade  at  the  present  time  does  not  result  in  rather  too  much 
crowding  for  children  of  six  years  of  age.  The  work  necessary  in 
carrying  out  the  assig'nment  in  the  State  course  of  study  interferes  rather 
seriously  with  the  freedom  of  the  teacher  in  adapting  subject  matter  for 
blackboard  reading  to  the  needs  and  interests  of  the  particular  classes. 


ASHLAND   PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  25 


The  committee  wishes  to  express  approval  of  the  rich  supply  of 
reading  matter  provided  for  the  grades  and  also  of  the  amount  of 
reading  done  by  each  class.  The  class  which  has  just  finished  the 
first  grade  has  read  six  primers  and  three  first  readers.  This  is  an 
excellent  record  as  to  amount  of  reading  to  be  done  the  first  year, 
especially  considering  the  difficulty  of  one  or  two  of  the  books  read. 
We  recommend  that  emphasis  be  laid  upon  silent  as  well  as  upon  oral 
reading.  The  power  to  get  thought  rapidly  and  silently  from  a  printed 
page  is  in  everyday  life  a  more  important  acquisition  than  oral  reading. 
This  is  not  said  to  indicate  that  less  emphasis  should  be  placed  upon 
oral  but  rather  that  more  emphasis  be  placed  on  silent  reading, 
especially  in  the  upper  grades.  In  this  connection  the  committee  desires 
to  commend  the  plan  of  having  both  oral  and  written  work  in  spelling 
daily,  although  of  the  opinion  that  the  written  work  should  be  regarded 
as  more  essential  than  the  oral. 

Arithmetic. — While  the  children  seem  thoroughly  keen  in  their  work 
in  numbers  and  aiithmetic  we  believe  that  the  text-books  in  use  set  forth 
too  many  problems.  The  emphasis  in  the  third  and  fourth  grades 
should  be  upon  processes  with  accuracy  and  speed  as  the  main  aims. 
The  problem  work  undertaken  below  the  fifth  grade  should  be  given 
orally  rather  than  from  the  text,  the  teacher  formulating  problems  and 
giving  them  out  to  the  class  as  the  class  solves  them  mentally.  The 
best  problems  will  deal  with  objects  not  only  concrete  but  familiar  to 
the  children.  This  should  be  varied  by  giving  children  practice  in 
formulating  problems  for  the  rest  of  the  class.  This  kind  of  work  is 
valuable  for  the  reason  that  it  is  a  thought  provoking  exercise  and  at 
the  same  time  affords  practical  application  of  the  arithmetical  processes. 
When  problems  are  read  from  the  book  by  the  children,  too  much  of 
the  attention  of  the  child  is  consumed  by  the  interpretation  of  the  printed 
page  while  the  method  above  described  has  the  advantage  of  leaving  his 
mind  free  to  attack  the  arithmetical  problem  unhampered. 

We  believe  that  only  very  simple  forms  of  analysis  should  be  employed 
below  the  fifth  grade,  while  in  the  fifth  or  sixth  grades  it  should  be 
made  a  very  definite  task  of  the  teacher  to  develop  power  in  the  analysis 
of  problems  and  that  this  be  continued  as  a  part  of  the  work  through 
the  grammar  grades. 


2.     COOPERATIVE  SUPERVISION 

Eai'ly  in  our  investigation  it  became  clearly  evident  that  the  system 
of  supervision  of  class-room  instruction  and  other  practices  pertaining 
to  the  welfare  of  the  children  of  the  Ashland  schools  was  unique  in 
spirit  and  fruitful  in  operation.  The  supervisory  relationships  existing 
among  the  superintendent,  the  several  principals,  and  the  various 
teachers  struck  us  as  being  decidedly  at  variance  with  conditions  known 
to  exist  in  many  cities  of  similar  size  elsewhere. 

From  the  very  outset  we  sensed  a  vital  relationship  between  the 
seemingly  evident  efficiency  of  the  school  system  and  the  plan  of 
supervision.  We  were,  therefore,  led  to  give  the  type  of  supervisory 
practice  a   very   thorough    investigation.     To  this   end   practically  all   of 


26  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

the  teachers,  the  principals,  and  the  superintendent  were  questioned  in 
detail  as  to  their  parts  in  the  existing  scheme  of  supervision  and  as  to 
their  attitudes  toward  it. 

The  result  of  this  inquiry  disclosed  a  system  of  supervision  remark- 
ably free  from  discord  and  effective  in  administration  which  might  well 
be  copied  elsewhere,  and  which  may  be  described  as  cooperative  super- 
vision. In  this  system  of  cooperative  supervision  and  direction,  influence 
radiates  from  the  superintendent  to  the  principals  and  to  the  teachers, 
but  nowhere  is  to  be  discovered  the  presence  of  arbitrary  exercise  of 
power.  Superintendent,  principals  and  teachers  are  dominated  by  the 
aim:  what  is  best  for  the  welfare  and  development  of  the  pupil.  With 
this  aim  in  view,  the  method  of  attaining  it  is  cooperation  of  all  forces. 

Consultations  between  and  among  the  various  members  of  the  staff 
of  the  Ashland  schools  are  frequent,  remarkably  so,  in  fact,  but  while 
suggestions  for  betterment  come  more  frequently  from  superintendent 
or  principals  it  is  by  virtue  of  their  greater  knowledge  and  experience 
and  not  by  authority  of  position.  Each  teacher  is  free  to  use  his  or 
her  own  method  when  it  seems  to  the  best  interest  of  the  children. 
The  principals  and  superintendent  are  quick  to  accept  suggestions  from 
any  teacher  as  to  means  of  bettering  the  efficiency  of  the  work  of  the 
schools,  and  helpful  ideas,  regardless  of  the  source,  spread  with  great 
rapidity  and  are  eagerly  accepted  by  all  who  can  use  them.  With  this 
spirit  of  cooperation  thoroughly  dominant  the  teachers  welcome  every 
suggestion  from  the  principals  and  superintendent. 

In  such  a  system  of  cooperative  supervision  it  "is  interesting  to  note 
the  spirit  of  loyalty  on  the  part  of  the  teachers  for  their  principals  and 
superintendent.  It  is  seldom  the  lot  of  the  surveyor  to  witness  a  finer 
spirit  of  loyalty  than  exists  among  the  Ashland  teachers.  In  spite  of 
the  most  searching  inquiry  we  were  unable  to  elicit  one  word  or  sign 
of  criticism  or  complaint  from  a  single  teacher  or  principal  in  the 
Ashland  system  concerning  a  superior.  On  the  other  hand,  all  available 
evidence,  which  was  plentiful,  indicates  clearly  that  the  support  given 
by  those  in  authority  from  the  school  board  down,  has  been  in  every  case 
prompt,  adequate  and  cheerfully  given. 

In  our  opinion  the  most  important  factors  of  supervision  are  embodied 
in  the  aim  and  spirit  of  cooperative  supervision.  We  add  some  of  the 
details  of  practice  in  the  Ashland  system.  Superintendent  Briscoe 
normally  visits  every  teacher  in  the  elementary  schools  from  ten  to  thirty 
minutes  once  every  week.  The  teachers  are  pleased  with  his  supervision. 
The  elementary  school  principals  are  in  and  out  of  the  classes  frequently; 
as  one  of  the  teachers  expressed  it,  "Oh,  she  is  here  all  the  time."  The 
teachers  are  pleased  to  have  the  principals  present. 

The  teachers  of  the  grade  schools  have  weekly  meetings  to  discuss 
common  problems.  There  are  also  frequent  meetings  between  teachers 
of  similar  grades  as  the  fifth  and  sixth  grade  teachers'  meeting.  The 
teachers  act  through  their  principals  in  routine  matters.  Both  teachers 
and  principals  deal  through  the  superintendent  and  never  directly  with 
the  school  board.  The  teachers  in  all  cases  are  selected  by  the  superin- 
tendent although  the  principals  place  instructors  in  their  respective 
buildings.  While  members  of  the  board  are  friendly  with  the  teachers, 
all  school  relations  are,  without  exception,  carried  on  through  the 
superintendent. 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  27 

In  the  hiprh  school  there  is  much  less  supervision.  Under  the  existence 
of  departmental  instruction  individual  teachers  are  j^riven  ^reat  liberty. 
While  this  is  well  for  the  most  part,  the  committee  found  existence  of  a 
lack  of  knowledpre  of  comparative  values  on  the  part  of  several  high 
school  teachers  who  could  undoubtedly  profit  by  more  supervision.  One 
of  the  characteristics  of  good  teachinf;  is  the  placing  of  emphasis  upon 
the  elements  of  the  lesson  which  are  of  chief  importance  as  related  to 
human  welfare  in  general  and  the  child's  own  life  activities  in  particular. 
All  text-books  contain  details  of  varying  importance  which  pupils  by 
good  teaching  may  learn  to  recognize  and  to  discriminate.  The  com- 
mittee believes  in  thorough  drilling  wherever  drill  will  eventually  prove 
economical  but  it  urges  the  danger,  particularly  in  mathematics  and  the 
languages,  of  subordinating  more  important  values  to  the  single  end  of 
disciplinary  drill. 

The  high  school  teachers  meet  once  a  week  under  the  principal  for 
discussion  of  immediate  problems  and  the  occasional  presentation  of 
papers  by  teachers.  The  high  school  teachers  have  little  to  say  in 
forming  general  policies.  These  are  usually  established  by  Superin- 
tendent Briscoe  in  consultation  with  the  principal,  and  all  work  cheerfully 
in  carrying  them  out.  In  both  high  and  elementary  schools  the  teachers 
report  that  they  are  thoroughly  supported  by  their  principals  and 
superintendent. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  instances  of  high  school  instruction  the 
committee  has  only  words  of  commendation  to  offer  concerning  supervi- 
sion in  the  Ashland  schools.  By  relieving  the  superintendent  and  high 
school  principal  of  part  of  their  instructional  duties,  the  time  saved  to 
be  spent  in  high  school  supervision,  an  ideal  system  of  supervision  may 
be  easily  attained. 


3.     DEPARTMENTAL  INSTRUCTION  AND 
SUPERVISED  STUDY 

For  the  past  three  years  instruction  has  been  given  in  the  West  Side 
School  on  the  departmental  basis.  All  of  the  eighth  grade  pupils  of 
Ashland  attend  the  West  Side  School  and  the  departmental  teaching 
in  this  school  involves  also  the  sixth  and  seventh  grades.  The  sixth 
and  seventh  gi-ades  in  the  East  Side  School  continue  on  the  former  basis. 
Penmanship  has  been  placed  in  charge  of  one  well  qualified  teacher  in 
each  grade  school,  and  is  reported  to  have  improved  under  this  plan. 
By  virtue  of  the  plan  in  the  West  Side  School,  teachers  are  enabled  to 
give  instruction  in  the  subjects  to  which  they  are  best  adapted  by  train- 
ing and  disposition.  The  committee  believes  that  this  change  has  been 
distinctly  instrumental  in  improving  instruction  since  its  initiation. 

Coincident  with  departmentalization  have  come  auxiliary  teaching  and 
supervised  study.  Each  departmental  teacher  in  the  West  Side  School 
now  has  about  four  periods  per  week  which  are  free  from  class  or 
assembly  work.  Children  not  reciting  remain  in  the  large  assembly  room 
for  the  purpose  of  study.  Here  individual  effort  in  an  atmosphere  of 
unbroken  quiet,  rather  than  directed  or  supervised  effort,  seems  to  be 
encouraged  by  the  teacher  in  charge.  During  this  time,  however,  the 
various  instructors  who  are  not  teaching  give  their  time  to  the  interests 


28  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

of  needy  pupils.  By  ones,  by  small  groups,  or  if  occasion  demands,  by 
entire  classes,  pupils  with  various  difficulties  are  taken  to  the  instructors' 
class  rooms  and  helped  according  to  their  special  needs.  By  this  agency 
the  school  is  enabled  to  set  and  maintain  standards  of  progress  to  which 
a  very  large  percentage  of  the  pupils  attain.  The  committee  heartily 
approves  of  this  type  of  supervised  study  and  recommends  its  extension, 
for  despite  the  evident  utility  of  the  present  plan  of  auxiliary  teaching 
there  is  evidence  that  there  has  been  an  occasional  child  who  has  failed 
because  present  facilities  in  supervised  study  have  not  reached  all. 

We  recommend  that  music  and  drawing  be  departmentalized  above  the 
second  or  third  grade.  The  addition  of  another  music  or  drawing  teacher 
will  permit  all  of  this  instruction  to  be  given  directly  by  specialists 
approximately  two  times  per  week.  This  will  relieve  the  regular  grade 
teachers  and  permit  them  to  use  this  time  for  giving  special  aid  to 
needy  pupils  in  the  same  manner  as  now  prevails  in  the  West  Side 
departmentalized   grades. 


ASHLAND   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  29 

CHAPTER   V 
INSTRUCTION-SPECIAL  TESTS 

There  has  been  a  jjrowiriK'  belief  among:  school  experts  for  the  past 
decade  that  such  general  descriptive  terms  as  "good,"  "excellent,"  and 
"poor,"  do  not  measure  adequately  the  results  of  education,  but  are 
relatively  as  indefinite  as  the  terms,  "warm,"  "cool,"  and  "hot,"  when 
applied  to  such  substances  as  iron  or  water.  Moreover,  just  as  the 
invention  of  the  thermometer  has  established  an  exact  scale  of  measure- 
ment for  various  degrees  of  heat,  so  too  has  the  invention  of  various 
quantitative  scales  of  mental  ability  permitted  accurate  measurement 
of  individual  skill  or  attainment  in  certain  school  subjects.  Considerable 
progress  has  been  made  in  the  formation  of  definite  standard  tests, 
such  as  the  Courtis  tests  in  arithmetic,  and  in  the  construction  of 
objective  scales,  such  as  the  Ayres'  scale  for  measuring  the  quality  of 
handwriting.  The  use  of  such  objective  scales  does  not  necessarily  do 
away  with  the  more  common  and  general  methods  of  observation  of  the 
results  of  school  progress,  for  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  results 
most  easily  measured  by  quantitative  scales  are  the  most  important  in 
school  work.  But  wherever  quantitative  measurement  is  possible  there 
can  be  no  question  of  the  greater  merit  of  the  scientific  scale. 

Time  limitations  and  the  lack  of  exact  comparative  data  have  pre- 
vented the  committee  from  making  use  of  all  of  the  standard  tests.  We 
have,  however,  given  a  dictation  test  for  the  purpose  of  measuring 
ability  in  punctuation  and  capitalization  among  the  children  in  the 
fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  grades.  The  handwriting  thus 
obtained  furnished  material  which  has  been  graded  on  the  Ayres'  scale 
of  handwriting.  In  addition  to  this,  a  special  test  was  given  in  spelling, 
while  the  State  eighth  grade  standard  examination  has  afforded  a  com- 
parative test  of  a  more  general  character. 

It  should  be  noted  here  that  the  tests  were  given  in  Ashland  just 
after  the  midyear  promotion.  Thirty-two  of  the  eighth  grade  pupils 
(just  graduated)  are  not  represented  in  the  results  and  part  of  the 
fourth  grade  is  in  reality  "just  over"  third  grade.  The  figures  showm 
are  at  least  one-fourth  of  a  year  inferior  to  actual  average  of  annual 
conditions. 


1.     DICTATION  TESTS 

Punctuation,  Capitalization  and  Spelling. — One  of  the  members 
of  the  committee  dictated  the  stories  given  below  to  all  the  pupils  of  the 
fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  grades.  The  stories  were  read 
slowly  while  the  children  wrote  the  same  sentences  with  pen  and  ink  as 
accurately  as  possible,  being  cautioned  to  write,  spell  and  punctuate  as 
well  as  they  were  able. 


30 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


1.  THE  FOX  AND  THE  CROW 

Once  a  crow  was  sitting-  on  a  branch  of  a  tree  with  a  piece  of  cheese 
in  her  mouth. 

A  fox  who  wished  to  get  the  cheese  said  to  her,  "Good-morning, 
Mrs.  Crow.  How  glossy,  bright  and  beautiful  your  feathers  are.  If  the 
crow's  voice  is  only  as  fine  as  her  looks,  she  is  surely  the  queen  of  birds. 
Will  you  not  sing  for  me?" 

The  crow  lifted  her  head  and  began  to  caw.  The  fox  snapped  up  the 
cheese  and  ran  off. 

"How  foolish  I've  been,"  thought  the  crow,  "to  let  him  flatter  me." 

2.  THE  FOX  AND  THE  STORK 

One  day  a  fox  invited  a  stork  to  dinner.  The  fox  thought  he  would 
have  some  fun,  so  he  had  soup  which  he  served  in  a  plate. 

The  fox  lapped  the  soup  with  his  tongue,  but  the  stork's  bill  was 
not  even  wet. 

"I  am  sorry  that  you  do  not  like  the  soup,  Mrs.  Stork,"  said  the  fox. 

"Don't  be  sorry,"  replied  the  stork.  "Will  you  not  come  to  dinner 
with  me  on  Monday?" 

When  the  fox  came,  the  stork  had  meat  in  a  tall,  slender,  long-necked 
jar.  She  could  get  the  meat  with  her  long  bill  but  the  fox  could  not 
get  his  nose  in  the  jar. 

"I  see  that  you  have  fun,  too,"  said  the  fox. 

After  the  test  had  been  completed,  the  papers  were  collected  and 
corrected  for  selected  mistakes.  Five  capitals,  five  spellings,  and  ten 
punctuation  marks  were  arbitrarily  selected  in  each  story  and  each  paper 
was  graded  according  to  the  number  of  mistakes  in  the  twenty  chosen 
places.  All  other  mistakes  were  neglected.  This  method  is  not  satis- 
factory for  the  exact  measurement  of  the  ability  of  any  certain  individual 
pupil  but  is  excellent  for  obtaining  the  average  ability  of  entire  classes 
or  of  schools.     The  results  obtained  are  shown  in  Table  Six. 


Table  Six — Average  Number  of  Mistakes  by  Ashland  Pupils  in  Dictation  Tests. 


Grade 

Capitals 
(Five) 

Spellings 
(Five) 

Puncutations 

(Ten) 

Total 
(Twenty) 

Fourth                   

2.96 

1.13 

.92 

1.21 

1.21 

1.27 

.87 

.73 

3.88 
1.74 
2.40 
1.95 
1..30 
2.06 
1.02 
1.27 

7.84 
5.78 
4.77 
5.35 
4.65 
5.90 
4.60 
5.10 

14.68 

Fifth    

8.65 

Sixth-B        

8.09 

Sixth-A       

8.51 

Seventh-B             

7.16 

9.23 

Eighth-B          

6.49 

Eighth-A               

7.10 

All                      

1.11 

1.85 

5.10 

8.06 

Before  commenting  on  these  results  it  will  be  well  to  present  Table 
Seven  showing  comparative  results  of  the  same  test  when  given  in 
(1)  Ashland,  (2)  Pendleton,  Oregon,  (3)  Boise,  Idaho,  and  to  (4)  one 
thousand  Oregon  grade  pupils  selected  at  random  throughout  the  State. 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


31 


Table  Seven — Total  Mistakes   in  Siiellini/,  Punctuation,  and   Capitals   Out  of 
Twenty  Chances   (First  Trials). 


Grade 

Ashland 

Pendleton 

(1913) 
UoiHA 

Oregon 

Fourth     

14.68 
8.65 
8.09 
8.51 
7.16 
9.23 
6.49 
7.10 

11.14 
9.54 
8  11 

13  40                     12  50 

Fifth    

9  80            1          11  81 

yixth-B      

7  60 

Sixth-A     

8  11 

fi   If)                                8  -IS 

Seventh-B     

6.52                       5  80            ' 

Seventh- A     

6.50            1            5.00 
6.34                       5.00 
6.34                       5.00 

7  49 

EfRhth-B      

Eighth-A     

7  24 

All     

8.06 

7.77 

• 

9  06 

•  Not   recorded. 


The  mistakes  recorded  in  Table  Seven  are  shown  in  graphic  form 
in  Fip:ure  1  in  which  the  height  of  the  various  curves  varies  inversely 
to  the  number  of  mistakes  and  thus  depicts  the  improved  standing  from 
grade  to  grade. 


4 

5 

V 

;::  7 
•/. 


9  *^ 

■  14 


= — ? 

-T 1                         1 1 1 

"    •       1                              1 

BOI5£- 

y 

y 

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PEHDLfTOri__ 

1 

y                   y 

^^< 

— -  -*  "~"  '~~g~   ~ 

^-T^b^-;'^^^''^ 

"" 

l^-r  ,&/ 

" 

- 

X- 

- 

^ 

^ 

//  /^ 

- 

^v 

(i---'^                  H!AV^-    LI  Jit    - 

ASHLAND 

- 

- 

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- 

~ 

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1 

— i 1 1._.  .                    1                  L 

1              1 

- 

SCHOOL  GRADE 


7S 


7A. 


SB 


a\ 


Figure    1. — Progress   in    Punctuation.    Capitalization   and    Spellins  anions   lour 
groups  of  children  in  the  Upper  Elementary  Grades. 


The  results  of  these  tests  as  indicated  in  the  tables  and  the  graph 
above  indicate  to  the  committee  that,  as  a  whole,  the  efficiency  of  the 
public  school  children  of  Ashland  in  the  fundamentals  of  punctuation 
and  capitalization  is  about  the  same  as  that  in  the  one  other  first-class 
Oregon  district  recorded  (Pendleton),  is  somewhat  inferior  to  the  ability 
of  Boise,  Idaho,  pupils,  and  is  noticeably  superior  to  the  conditions  found 
among  average  Oregon  school  children. 


32 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


The  results  show,  on  the  other  hand,  that,  while  there  is  general 
progress  through  the  grades,  it  is  neither  steady  nor  satisfactory. 
Eight  A  is  but  little  better  than  Seven  B.  There  are  numerous  fifth 
grade  pupils  who  are  better  than  one-half  the  pupils  of  the  entire  eighth 
grade,  while  the  average  of  nearly  seven  mistakes  in  twenty  is  certainly 
too  large  a  percentage  for  pupils  about  to  finish  the  grammar  school. 
This  condition  is  not  peculiar  to  Ashland  but  is  widespread.  The  com- 
mittee believes  that  this  condition  is  due  to  lack  of  attention  to  the 
fundamentals  indicated  in  the  test,  rather  than  to  poor  methods  or 
teachers.  Attention  is  called  to  the  steady  progress  made  from  grade 
to  grade  in  the  Boise  schools,  where  Superintendent  Meek  has  been 
giving  attention  for  several  years  to  this  work.  The  committee  lacks 
definite  information  as  to  the  conditions  at  the  beginning  of  Superin- 
tendent Meek's  work  but  the  following  comparison  exhibits  the  improved 
result  due  to  emphasis  on  this  field  of  instruction. 

Table   Eight — Percentages  of  Correct   Punctuation,  Etc.,   in  Dictation  Exercises 
at  Boise,  Idaho,  in  Successive  Years. 


4B 

4A 

5B 

5A 

6B 

6A 

7B 

7A 

8B 

October,    1913  

February,    1914    .. 

44 

68 

52 

74 

59 

77 

71 

84 

71 

87 

77 
88 

79 

89 

81 
91 

82 
93 

The  committee  recommends  that  more  attention  be  given  to  the  funda- 
mentals of  punctuation  and  capitalization.  This  should  be  accomplished 
either  by  special  exercises  in  dictation  or  by  critical  attention  given  this 
phase  of  the  pupils'  regular  written  work,  or  if  found  necessary,  to  both. 
We  believe,  however,  that  a  minor  amount  of  definite  concentrated  effort 
in  this  field  will  accomplish  satisfactory  improvement. 


2.     TESTS  IN  SPELLING 


The  part  of  the  dictation  test  which  included  the  spelling  of  a  few 
simple  words  was  far  too  restricted  to  be  used  as  a  basis  for  measuring 
the  spelling  ability  of  the  Ashland  schools  as  a  whole.  For  this  purpose 
the  method  used  by  Dr.  Leonard  P.  Ayres  in  the  survey  of  the  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  public  schools  was  followed  in  detail,  and  may  well  be 
described  by  quoting  from  the   Springfield  report,    (p.   71)  : 

"Spelling  tests  of  ten  dictated  words  were  given  through  the  system 
in  all  of  the  grades  from  the  second  to  the  eighth  inclusive.  The  words 
used  in  these  tests  were  chosen  from  lists  used  by  the  Division  of 
Education  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation  in  an  investigation  that  it 
is  now  conducting  of  the  spelling  ability  of  children  in  elementary  schools. 
The  Division  has  conducted  studies  to  discover  the  1,000  words  most 
commonly  used  in  writing  and  it  has  made  these  words  into  spelling 
lists  with  which  children  in  nearly  100  American  cities  have  been  tested. 
From  among  these  words  10  were  chosen  which  this  investigation  has 
shown  are  on  the  average  spelled  correctly  by  70  per  cent  of  the  children 
in  the  second  grades  of  other  cities.  Similarly  10  words  were  chosen 
which  children   in  the  third  grades  of  other  cities  spell  on  the  average 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


33 


of  70  per  cent  correctly.  In  the  same  way  10  words  were  chosen  for 
each  of  the  other  elementary  g:rades  and  in  each  case  they  were  of 
such  difficulty  that  on  the  average  seven  out  of  ten  children  spell  them 
correctly  while  three  misspell  them." 

These  lists  of  10  words  for  each  grade  are  shown  in  Table  Nine. 

Table  Nine — Words  Used  in  Spelling  Tests.    (On  the  Average  Seven  Children  Out 
of  Ten  in  the  Sanie  Grades  in  Other  Cities  Can  Spell  Them  Correctly.) 


Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Eighth 

Grade 

Grade 

Grade 

Grade 

Grade 

Grade 

Grade 

foot 

fill 

forty 

Several 

decide 

district 

petrified 

get 

point 

rati' 

li'avinjt 

Kcneral 

consideration 

tarllT 

for 

state 

cliildri'M 

publish 

manner 

athletic 

emerftency 

horse 

ready 

prison 

o"i-lock 

too 

dlstinsuish 

corporation 

cut 

almost 

litif 

running 

automobile 

evidence 

convenience 

well 

hlKh 

Kettinsr 

liiiown 

victim 

conference 

receipt 

name 

t'vent 

net'd 

st'curt' 

hospital 

amendment 

cordially 

room 

done 

throw 

wait 

neither 

liquor 

discussion 

left 

pass 

fet'l 

nuuiner 

toward 

experience 

appreciate 

with 

Tuesday 

speali 

llight 

business 

receive 

decision 

The  results  of  this  test  which  was  given  to  the  children  of  the 
Ashland  schools  show  that  they  spell  on  the  average  noticeably  better 
than  children  in  other  cities.  The  avei^age  of  3,612  children  in  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  is  70  per  cent,  or  the  same  as  the  general  average  in  other 
cities.  The  average  of  the  Ashland  children  is  75  per  cent.  Out  of 
18  grade  schools  in  the  city  of  Springfield,  but  three  average  higher  than 
either  of  the  Ashland  schools,  one  is  equal  to,  and  fourteen  are  below 
the  Ashland  standard.  Table  Ten  shows  the  relative  standing  of  the 
Ashland  schools  with  those  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  the  general 
average  of  city  schools. 

Table  Ten — Per  Cent  of   Woi-ds  Correcth/  Spelled   bi.i  Children   in   Each   Grade  in 
Ten   Word   Spelling  Lists. 


Grade 

Per  cent  correct  in 
ail  cities 

Per  cent  correct  in 
Asiilanil 

Percent  correct  in 
Sprintctield 

Second      

70 
70 
70 
70 
70 
70 
70 

86 

73 
81 
88 
61 
7,3 
66 

70 
65 
70 
72 
68 
73 
75 

Third    

Fourth    

Fifth     

Sixth     

Seventh     

Eighth    - 

Total     . 

70 

75 

70 

3.     TESTS  OF  HANDWRITING 

The  specimens  of  handwriting  of  the  pupils  in  grades  five  to  eight 
obtained  in  the  dictation  tests  described  above  were  graded  by  use  of 
the  Ayres  Handwriting  Scale.  This  scale  is  a  device  for  measuring  the 
quality  of  children's  handwriting  constructed  by  Leonard  P.  Ayres  of 
the  Russell  Sage  Foundation.*     The  scale  measures  the  quality  of  hand- 

•  A  scale  for  measuring  the  (iviality  of  handwriting  of  school  children.  Division 
of  Education.    Russell  Sage  Foundation,   1912. 


34 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


writing  from  very  poor  specimens  graded  20  up  to  very  excellent  speci- 
mens graded  90.  The  average  quality  of  writing  for  children  of  the 
fifth,  sixth,  seventh  and  eighth  grades  combined  the  country  over  is 
scaled  at  50. 

Each  specimen  of  handwriting  of  the  upper  elementary  pupils  of  the 
Ashland  schools  was  graded  on  the  Ayres  Scale  by  twelve  judges  and 
the  average  of  the  twelve  taken  as  the  final  grade.  The  average  quality 
of  each  of  the  four  grades  is  given  in  Table  Eleven. 

Table  Eleven — Average  Quality  of  Handwriting  of  School  Children  of  Ashland. 


Eighth 


Average  quality  .. 


i6 


The  average  quality  of  the  four  grades  at  A5  as  compared  with  the 
average  of  the  country  at  50  indicates  that  the  handwriting  of  the 
Ashland  schools  is  below  the  average  standard.  Further  investigation 
to  discover  the  cause  of  this  condition  has  revealed  certain  factors  which 
tend  to  modify  this  judgment.  During  the  year  1913  the  vertical  style 
of  penmanship  was  superseded  in  the  State  of  Oregon  by  the  State 
adoption  of  the  Palmer  system.  The  Palmer  system  has  now  been 
taught  over  a  year  and  the  resultant  slant  is  quite  noticeable  in  contrast 
to  the  older  vertical  style.  The  tests  revealed  the  fact  that  a  large 
number  of  children  are  in  the  midst  of  a  transition  stage  as  far  as 
actual  practice  is  concerned.  Some  still  used  the  old  vertical  style  under 
the  stress  of  the  dictation  test,  some  used  the  Palmer  style,  while  many 
showed  traces  of  both  styles.  The  judges  were  unanimously  of  the 
opinion  that  as  far  as  legibility  was  concerned  (speed  was  not  tested) 
the  transfer  in  style  has  lowered  the  average  quality  of  writing  through- 
out the  upper  grades. 

The  most  significant  result  of  the  tests  in  handwriting  is  not  the 
discovery  of  the  general  average  quality  maintained  by  the  school  but 
the  remarkable  variation  which  exists  among  pupils  of  the  same  grade. 
Reference  to  Table  Twelve  will  reveal  this  condition  which,  it  should  be 
added,  is  not  peculiar  to  Ashland  alone. 

Table  Twelve — Percentage  of  Pupils  of  Grades  Five  to  Eight  Writing  Qualities 
Twenty  to  Eighty  on  the  Ayres  Handwriting  Scale. 


Quality 

20 

.?0 

'lO 

.10 

60 

70 

80 

Grade  Five          

3 

40 

22 

9 

54 
44 
42 
24 

3 

25 
26 
26 

"9 
14 
24 

"9 

24 

Grade   Six                 



Grade  Eight  

2- 

All         

1 

18 

40 

20 

12 

8 

1 

The  figures  opposite  each  grade  indicate  what  per  cent  of  that  grade 
wrote  the  quality  in  handwriting  shown  at  the  top  of  the  column.  Thus 
in  grade  five,  3  per  cent  of  the  class  wrote  quality  20,  40  per  cent  wrote 
quality  .10,  54  per  cent  wrote  quality  AO,  and  3  per  cent  wrote  quality  50. 

Inspection  discloses  some  noteworthy  facts.  Over  one-half  (57%) 
of  the  fifth  grade  pupils  write  as  well    (iO)   as  one-fourth   (24%)   of  the 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


35 


eighth  grade.  One-third  (34%)  of  the  sixth  grade  write  better  (50) 
than  one-half  (51%)  of  the  seventh  grade  and  one-fourth  {'ZiV' )  of  the 
eighth  grade.  One-fourth  (23%)  of  the  seventh  grade  write  better  (60) 
than  one-half   (50%)   of  the  eighth  grade. 

While  the  committee  recognizes  that  schools  should  not  be  organized 
upon  the  basis  of  ability  in  handwriting,  the  great  overlapping  of  the 
present  classes  in  achievement  in  this  art  can  not  promote  the  best 
efficiency  in  teaching.  When  pupils  writing  the  very  poor  quality  JO 
are  in  the  same  classes  with  pupils  writing  70,  group  methods  are 
greatly  weakened  and  the  economy  of  proper  classification  lost.  The 
degree  to  which  the  four  classes  overlap  is  concretely  shown  in  Figure  2. 

One  means  of  improving  the  effectiveness  of  instruction  in  penman- 
ship lies  in  a  better  classification  of  the  groups  of  pupils  receiving 
instruction  at  any  given  time.  With  a  homogeneous  group  assembled, 
special  methods  may  be  used  to  bring  the  pupils  to  an  appropriate 
standard.  The  Ayres  scale  may  well  be  used  both  as  a  scale  and  as  a 
standard.  If  the  child  and  teacher  each  know  exactly  what  individual 
pi'ogress  is  being  made  much  more  can  be  accomplished  than  by  random 
efforts. 


-SO 

1 

1                        I 

-1 , 

T 

-40 

1 

^  A 

y 

- 

-30 

<l 

fir/ 

1 

7          / 

V     0/           / — 

\\ 

■^-^^Si^l     CRA^DE 

- 

\                                                       \ 

-20 

HI 
ul 

f 

if   i 
7     7 

\i 

\^^                           \ 
\               ^C''                                \ 

-to 

jj/ 

/ 

Ol 

1 

\X.       \ 

GRADE    OF    AYRES    SCALE 

Fig^ure  2. — Overlapping  of  Upper  Elementary  Grades  in  ability  of  Penman- 
ship. The  curve.s  indicate  the  percentages  of  eaih  grade  scoring  tO,  SO.  iO,  50.  tiO, 
10  and  SO  on  the  Ayres  Scale. 


36  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

No  ultimate  standard  of  handwriting  for  elementary  school  children 
has  yet  been  agreed  upon.  The  importance  of  good  writing  varies 
greatly  in  different  vocations  and  according  to  access  to  the  typewriter. 
For  purposes  of  school  work  and  the  ordinary  demands  of  life,  quality  60 
may  be  considered  quite  satisfactory.  This  would  indicate  that  probably 
one-fourth  of  the  Ashland  children  write  sufficiently  well  at  present. 
On  the  other  hand,  approximately  one-fourth  of  the  children  write 
around  quality  ,30  which  is  decidedly  poor  for  any  purpose.  It  would 
be  a  decided  uplift  if  this  group  could  be  raised  to  the  standard  of  60 
before  leaving  the  elementary  school. 

The  committee  therefore  recommends  that  the  classes  in  penmanship 
be  reorganized  on  the  basis  of  ability  and  that  a  large  share  of  the  time 
given  to  the  best  one-fourth  of  the  upper  elementary  grades  be  devoted 
to  the  poorest  one-fourth.  The  higher  one-fourth  who  have  already 
attained  a  satisfactory  standard  may  be  well  taken  care  of  by  a  mini- 
mum of  practice.  (Recent  investigation*  indicates  that  skill  in  hand- 
writing does  not  increase  in  general  with  a  greater  amount  of  practice.) 
The  time  thus  saved  may  well  be  given  to  other  essentials  of  the 
elementary  course  of  study  not  so  well  mastered. 


4.     EIGHTH  GRADE  EXAMINATIONS 

In  the  State  of  Oregon  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction  to  prepare  questions  for  use  in  the  examination  of  pupils 
who  have  completed  the  eighth  grade  in  accordance  with  the  provisions 
of  the  State  course  of  study.  Pupils  who  pass  successfully  are  entitled 
to  entrance  into  any  ninth  grade  in  the  State  without  further  examination. 
The  eighth  grade  papers  are  graded  by  a  county  board  of  examiners 
consisting  ordinarily  of  the  county  school  superintendent  and  four  special 
appointees. 

A  number  of  districts  of  the  first  class  in  Oregon  having  high  schools 
are  in  counties  which  maintain  a  so-called  county  high  school  fund. 
This  fund  pays  to  standard  high  schools  within  the  county  tuition  varying 
in  amount  from  $12.50  per  pupil  to  $40.00  per  pupil,  amounting  in  some 
districts  to  five  or  six  thousand  dollars.  It  is  necessary,  however,  that 
pupils  shall  have  passed  the  eighth  grade  uniform  final  examination 
before  drawing  county  fund  tuition.  It  therefore  happens  that  while 
some  first  class  districts  (containing  1,000  childi-en  of  school  age)  do 
not  give  the  State  uniform  eighth  grade  examination,  a  number  of 
them,  including  Ashland,  do  so  under  the  county  high  school  fund  law. 

The  committee  has  secured  from  the  several  county  superintendents 
statistics  of  the  results  of  the  uniform  eighth  grade  examinations  given 
in  the  years  1913,  1914,  and  1915,  in  districts  of  the  first  class  in  the 
cities  of  Corvallis,  Grants  Pass,  Eugene,  Medford,  Pendleton,  and  The 
Dalles,  as  well  as  in  two  large  second-class  districts.  Cottage  Grove  and 
Springfield.  In  these  districts  a  total  of  1,717  pupils  have  attempted 
the  examination  within  the  past  three  years  and  1,074,  almost  exactly 
two-thirds,  have  passed.  The  figures  by  years  are  given  in  Table 
Thirteen. 


•  Freeman :    The  Fourteenth  Year  Book  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study 
of  Education,   1915. 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


37 


'I'abi.e    Th 

IHTEKN — Results    of     Uiiiform     Kiyhth     Grade    Examinntions    in     Eight 
Representative  Oregon  Cities  During  the  Years  lOlS-J'JlJ. 

1918 

1914 

1916  (Jan.) 

Total 

Pomed      Failed 

PaHMd  ]    Failed 

Passed 

Failed 

Passed  '    Failed 

430            219 
66.3          33.7 

469 
66.5 

236 
33.5 

175 
66.5 

88 
33.5 

1074      ,      543 

Per   cent   .. 

66.4     1     33.6 

1 

It  is  worthy  of  attention  to  note  the  regularity  from  year  to  year 
with  which  half  as  many  pupils  in  representative  Oregon  first-class 
districts  fail  in  passing  the  eighth  grade  final  examinations  as  succeed. 
It  indicates  either  that  the  examinations  or  the  course  of  study  is  too 
difficult,  or  that  the  schools  are  not  measuring  up  to  their  responsibility, 
for  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  one-third  is  much  too  large  a 
fraction  of  failures  to  record  against  a  public  school  system.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  significant  to  note  that  during  these  same  three  years 
(see  Table  P^urteen),  of  183  Ashland  eighth  grade  pupils  who  took  the 
same  examinations,  but  seven  pupils  or  less  than  four  per  cent  failed 
to  pass. 

Table  Foukteen — licsiilt  of  l'nifort)i  Eighth  Grade  Exaininotiuns  in  Ashland 
During  the  Years  li)13-lH15. 


1913 

1914 

1 
191.'-) 

Total 

PuKsed     1      Failed 

PasRed 

Failed 

Passed         Failed 

Passed        Failed 

Number  

Per  cent  .... 

72                 3 
96                 4 

72 
96 

3 
4 

32                 1 
97                 3 

176 
96 

7 
4 

It  should  be  added  that  Medford,  a  second  city  within  the  same 
county  (Jackson)  as  Ashland,  had  approximately  the  same  figures,  and 
that  the  better  record  may  not  be  due  exclusively  to  better  schools  but, 
in  part  at  least,  to  the  standard  of  grading  used  by  the  county  board  of 
examiners.  In  either  event  the  situation  in  Jackson  County  is  much  more 
to  be  commended  than  that  which  exists  elsewhere. 


1 726t¥J 


38  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

CHAPTER  VI 
PROGRESS  OF  PUPILS 

One  of  the  most  important  measures  of  a  school  system  is  to  be 
discovered  by  an  analysis  of  the  progress  of  its  pupils  through  the 
grades.  During  the  school  year  1913-14,  under  the  direction  of  one 
of  the  members  of  the  survey  staff  (Professor  Fred  C.  Ayer),  Superin- 
tendent Briscoe  made  a  detatiled  study  of  the  promotion,  progress, 
retardation,  and  elimination  of  pupils  in  the  Ashland  grade  schools. 
The  committee  has  before  it  a  vast  amount  of  tabulated  data  which, 
in  this  report,  has  been  reduced  to  a  limited  number  of  tables  and  the 
more   important   generalizations. 

The  truancy  laws  in  Oregon  apply  to  all  children  in  ordinary  health 
between  the  ages  of  nine  and  fifteen,  living  within  three  miles  of  a 
school  building.  This  law  is  fairly  well  enforced  in  Ashland,  but  as 
the  normal  age  for  grade  one  is  seven  years,  many  children  who  are 
kept  out  of  school  until  past  nine,  enter  school  two  or  three  years 
retarded   or   over-age. 

Pupils  who  are  in  the  various  grades  of  the  elementary  schools  are 
commonly  described  as  being  of  "normal  age,"  or  "retarded,"  or  "accel- 
erated." In  the  following  discussion  pupils  who  were  seven  years  old 
and  under  eight  in  September,  and  in  the  first  grade  are  regarded  as 
being  of  normal  age.  In  like  manner  pupils  who  were  eight  and  under 
nine  and  in  the  second  grade  are  taken  as  of  normal  age,  and  similarly 
up  to  the  eighth  grade  where  they  should  be  fourteen  in  September. 
Pupils  who  are  under  the  normal  age  for  their  grades  are  said  to  be 
accelerated.  Pupils  who  are  over  the  normal  age  for  their  grade  are 
said  to  be  retarded. 


1.     RETARDATION 

The  retarded  pupil  is  one  of  the  great  problems  of  the  school.  Late 
entrance  and  failure  of  promotion  are  the  chief  causes  for  retardation, 
but  whatever  the  cause,  the  results  are  unfortunate.  The  retarded 
pupils  ordinarily  reach  the  compulsory  age  limit  in  the  upper  grammar 
grades  and  because  of  personal  or  economical  reasons  leave  school  per- 
manently, ill-prepared  for  the  activities  of  modern  life.  On  the  other 
hand,  those  who  remain  by  failure  in  promotion,  bulk  up  the  lower 
grades  until  in  many  schools  the  money  cost  of  educating  the  children 
for  an  extra  number  of  years  is  greatly  increased,  and  in  some  grades 
practically  doubled. 

Table  Fifteen  shows  conditions  in  the  Ashland  elementary  schools 
for  the  year   1913-14. 

The  figures  in  the  top  of  each  square  show  how  many  boys  of  a 
certain  age  were  in  that  grade,  and  the  figures  in  the  bottom  of  each 
square  show  how  many  girls  of  the  same  age  were  in  the  same  grade. 
Then  in  Grade  1  there  were  32  boys  and  41  girls  six  years  old,  17  boys 
and  9  girls  seven  years  old,  and  3  boys  and  no  girls  eight  years  old. 
How  the  ages  scatter  out  in  succeeding  grades  is  plainly  depicted. 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


39 


Table  Fifteen — All   Grades.      Enrollment   by  Age  and  Grade.     Number  of  Boys 

and  Girls  of  Each  Grade,  and  Number  of  Each  Below  Age  for  Grade, 

Number  of  Normal,  and  Number  Above  Age  for  Grade. 


Agei 


First      Spcond     Third     Fourth     Fifth 
Orade      Urade      Grade      Urude     Grade 


Sixth    Hcventh   RiKhth 
Grade     Grade     Grade 


.  i  Boys 

«>- I  Girls 

_  j  Boys 

' I  Girls 

a  J  Boys 

° I  Girls 

u  (  Boys 

"-  (  Girls 

,„  \  Boys 

^" --- (  Girls 

,,  t  Boys 

" --■(  Girls 

,«  (  Boys 

" (  Girls 

,o  1  Boys 

^^  -     (  Girls 

, .  t  Boys 

^* I  Girls 

,-  j  Boys 

'*' I  Girls 

*"— 1  Girls 

17  )  Boys 

" I  Girls 

,o  '  Boys 

^^ )  Girls 

Total  >  ^oy* 

^°^*' (  Girls 

Grand  Total 

Below  t  Boys 

Normal       I  Girls 

Normal  ^  ^"^^ 

^*"^™*' I  Girls 

Above  t  Boys 

Normal       "i  Girls 


6 
0 

13 
13 

3 

0 

7 

30 


88 
48 


81 
68 


80 


20 
20 


881 
420 


801 


US 
162 


186 
186 


184 
120 


The  zipfzap:  line  in  the  table  divides  the  pupils  into  three  groups, 
those  below  normal  ape  for  grades  (accelerated),  those  normal  apre  for 
grade,  and  those  above  normal  age  for  grade  (retarded).  The  number 
of  normal  pupils  for  each  grade  rests  upon  the  zigzag  line,  while  the 
number  of  retarded  pupils  is  found  below  the  line.  The  number  of 
accelerated  pupils  is  found  in  the  squares  above  the  one  resting  upon 
the   zigzag   line. 


40 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


The  following:  summary  shows  the  g:eneral  conditions  which  as  com- 
pared with  other  school  systems  reported  is  very  favorable: 

Table  Sixteen — Age  Distribution  of  Grade  Children,   1'J13-U. 


Below  Age 
(Accelerated) 

Normal  Age 
for  Grade 

Above  Age 
(Retarded) 

Total 

Boys    

Girls    

113 
162 

136 
136 

134 
120 

.  381 
420 

Total   

275 

272 

254 

801 

This  table  shows  that  the  girls  progress  more  rapidly  through  the 
grades  than  the  boys,  but  the  difference  is  decidedly  less  marked  than 
in  many  other    (larger)    schools  which  have  been  investigated. 


2.     PROMOTION 

As  the  amount  of  retardation  depends  primarily  upon  the  rate  of 
promotion  through  the  grade,  and  as  all  tables  which  neglect  the  pupils 
who  have  dropped  out  of  school  (elimination)  are  faulty,  it  is  important 
to  note  these  factors  in  the  Ashland  schools. 

Table  Seventeen  shows  in  detail  the  rate  of  promotion  of  pupils  in 
the  Ashland  schools. 

Table   Seventeen — All  Grade  Schools  Promotion   by  Grades  and  Sex. 


First 

Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Sev'nth 

Eighth 

Total 

■ 

Boys  promoted  .... 
Girls    promoted    .. 

85 
60 

65 

78 

86 
112 

67 
106 

67 
71 

102 
94 

62 

72 

50 
57., 

584 
..650 

Total  promoted 

Boys  failed  

Girls    failed    

145 

13 
9 

143 

5 
4 

198 

4 
5 

173 

5 
3 

138 

8 
3 

196 

11 
3 

134 

3 

4 

107 

2' 
2 

1234 

•    51 
33 

Total  failed 

Per   cent   passed  .. 
Per    cent    failed.... 

22 

86.9 
13 

9 

94 
6 

9 

95.6 
4.3 

8 

95.5 

4.5 

11 

92.6 
7.3 

14 

93.3 
6.6 

7 

95 
5 

4 

96.7 
3.2 

84 

93.6 
6.3 

It  is  seen  that  the  girls  made  650  promotions  out  of  a  possible  683, 
or  95.1  per  cent  while  the  boys  made  584  promotions  out  of  a  possible  635, 
or  92  per  cent.  The  combined  pupils  made  promotions  at  the  rate  of 
93.6  per  cent.  It  is  a  striking  situation  in  the  Ashland  schools  that  such 
a  large  rate  of  promotion  i.s  possible  and  even  more  striking  that  this 
rate  is  approximately  unifoi-m  throughout  the  grades. 

Leonard  P.  Ayres,  Educational  Expert  of  the  Russell  Sage  Founda- 
tion, in  the  School  Survey  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  1914,  says  with  refer- 
ence to  the  Springfield  schools,  "In  general  the  promotion  rates  are 
well  up,  ranging  from  85  to  90  per  cent."  The  Ashland  .standard  exceeds 
the  excellent  record  of  the  Springfield  system  by  about  5  per  cent. 

Providing  promotion  occurs  by  merit  only,  this  high  standard  of 
promotion  marks  a  great  saving  of  money  to  Ashland  and  of  time  in 
the  lives  of  the  pupils.     That  promotion  goes  by  merit  is  shown  by  the 


ASHLAND   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 


41 


success  with  which  over  95  per  cent  of  the  Ashland  pupils  have  met 
the  test  of  eighth  grade  examinations  imposed  upon  them  by  the  State 
(described  in  a  previous  section).  Promotions  occur  regularly  twice 
each  year.  For  pupils  of  the  first  three  grades,  no  formal  tests  of  any 
sort  are  given.  The  pupils  are  promoted  on  the  initiative  of  the  teacher 
who  consults  the  principal  with  doubtful  cases.  From  grades  four  to 
eight  promotions  (save  a  limited  number  of  exemptions)  are  made  by 
examination.  The  questions  are  prepared  by  the  local  teachers  for  all 
grades  save  the  eighth  which  are  prepared  by  the  State  Superintendent 
and  graded  by  the  County  Board  of  Examiners. 

It  has  become  a  practice  in  the  Ashland  system  to  make  conditional 
transfers  in  grades  four  to  seven.  Even  when  pupils  fail  to  make  the 
standard  75  per  cent  in  each  subject  they  may  be  transferred  condi- 
tionally on  the  judgment  of  the  teacher.  Four  years'  trial  has  disclosed 
the  fact  that  about  80  per  cent  of  the  "conditioned"  pupils  have  kept  up 
with  the  regular  class.  The  committee  commends  this  procedure  very 
highly,  believing  pupils  should  be  in  classes  where  they  will  do  the 
best  work  providing  the  class  is  not  retarded  as  a  whole  thereby. 


3.     ELIMINATION 

There  are  two  kinds  of  elimination  of  school  children,  preventable 
and  non-preventable.  When  children  leave  school  because  of  faults 
within  the  system,  elimination  is  preventable,  but  when  it  is  caused  by 
children  dying  or  moving  away  it  is  non-preventable  and  should  not  be 
charged  to  the  schools.  The  amount  of  elimination  by  grades  in  the 
Ashland  schools  during  the  year  1913-14  is  shown  in  Table  Eighteen. 

Table   Eighteen — Klimination   of    Pupils   in    Elementary   Schools. 


First 
Grade 

Second 
Grade 

Third 
Grade 

Fourth 
Grade 

Fifth 
Grade 

Sixth 
Grade 

Sev'nth 
Grade 

Eighth 
Grade 

Total 

Boys    eliminated  .. 
Girls    eliminated  .. 

13 

18 

10 
9 

9 
15 

1 
10 

7 
7 

12 
9 

7 
8 

12 
6 

71 
82 

Total  number  .. 

31 

19 

" 

11 

14 

21 

15 

IS 

153 

In  the  enrollment  of  801,  there  were  381  boys  and  420  girls.  Of  these 
153  were  eliminated,  71  boys  and  82  girls.  The  per  cent  elimination 
is  19.1.  The  per  cent  of  elimination  for  the  boys  based  upon  the  number 
of  boys  enrolled  is  18.9;  for  the  girls  based  upon  the  number  of  girls 
enrolled  it  is   19.5. 

Table  Nineteen  gives  an  analysis  of  the  causes  of  this  elimination: 

Table   Nineteen — Causes  of  Eli»iiuatit>H    in   Ashlund   Elementary  Schools. 


Moved 
Away 

Siok 

Unknown 

Work 

Bad 

Lazy 

Death 

Boys      

Girls      

58 
64 

9 

11 

0 

3 

0 

2 
1 

1 
1 

1 
;         0 

Total    

122 

20 

3 

- 

3 

2 

1 

42  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

A  glance  at  the  table  shows  that  the  schools  could  in  no  way  be  held 
responsible  for  the  elimination  of  those  pupils  accounted  for  in  the  first 
and  the  last  columns,  i.  e.,  by  moving  and  death,  which  is  80.3  per  cent 
of  the  elimination.  In  column  two,  there  are  20  pupils  or  13  per  cent 
of  the  entire  elimination  caused  by  sickness.  Just  what  part  of  the 
responsibility  for  the  poor  health  of  these  pupils  the  schools  should  bear 
can  not  be  known,  probably  a  very  small  share,  since  most  of  the  cases 
were  of  a  chronic  nature,  and  withdrawn  from  school  upon  the  advice 
of  a  physician,  a  written  statement  of  facts  accompanying  each  with- 
drawal. The  remaining  10  cases,  or  6.5  per  cent  of  the  number  eliminated 
and  .011  per  cent  of  the  entire  enrollment  may  be  charged  justly  to  the 
inefficiency  of  the  schools. 

This  shows  a  small  amount  of  both  preventable  and  non-preventable 
elimination  as  compared  with  other  school  systems.  Strayer  and  Thorn- 
dike,  in  their  Educational  Administration,  1913,  estimate  that  for  every 
100  pupils  in  the  elementary  schools  8  years  of  age  there  will  remain 
97  at  12  years  of  age,  88  at  13  years,  70  at  14  years,  47  at  15  years, 
and  30  at  16  years.  Compared  to  this  theoretical  condition  we  find  that 
in  Ashland  for  every  100  pupils  of  8  years  of  age  there  are  107  at  12, 
110  at  13,  103  at  14,  82  at  15,  and  81  at  16  years  of  age.  This  shows 
a  marked  decrease  in  elimination  in  the  years  12  to  16  favoring  Ashland 
schools  from   10  to  over  200  per  cent. 

Further  study  of  the  high  school  shows  that  there  are  practically  as 
many  pupils  in  the  early  years  of  the  high  school  as  there  are  eight- 
year-old  pupils  in  the  same  system,  indicating  that  in  Ashland  certainly 
there  is  no  call  for  a  junior  high  school  to  prevent  elimination. 

The  committee  commends  the  superintendent  for  making  a  detailed 
study  of  conditions  of  retardation,  promotion,  and  elimination,  and 
recommends  that  the  study  be  continued  with  the  view  of  learning  and 
ameliorating  as  far  as  possible  the  individual  causes  which  prevail 
against  the  backward  or  absent  children. 


ASHLAND  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  43 

CHAPTER    VII 

ADMINISTRATIVE  ORGANIZATION  OF 
ASHLAND  SCHOOLS 

The  public  school  system  of  Ashland  is  managed  in  accordance  with 
the  most  approved  principles  of  good  corporate  management  with  the 
exception  of  one  or  two  points  which  will  be  discussed  later.  The  Board 
of  School  Directors  assumes  the  position  of  a  Board  of  Directors  in  a 
large  corporation  and  gives  to  its  chief  executive  officer,  the  Superin- 
tendent of  Schools,  authority  and  freedom  of  action  commensurate  with 
his  duties  and  responsibilities.  The  board  does  not  interfere  with  or 
attempt  to  manage  the  details  of  school  administration,  but  very  properly 
leaves  these  matters  to  the  decision  of  its  educational  expert.  Matters 
relating  to  the  outlining  of  the  course  of  study,  the  selection  of  school 
books,  the  competency  of  instruction,  and  the  selection,  assignment, 
promotion,  and  dismissal  of  teachers  and  janitors  are  left  to  the  judgment 
of  the  superintendent. 

This  plan  relieves  the  board  of  the  petty  details  of  school  adminis- 
tration, from  strong  personal  influences  and  pulls,  and  enables  its 
members  to  devote  their  energies  to  the  larger  and  more  important  needs 
of  the  schools.  These  larger  needs  comprise  the  following:  the  selection 
of  its  general  manager;  the  larger  problems  of  finance,  present  and 
future;  the  selection  of  school  sites;  the  approval  of  building  plans; 
the  expansion  and  enlargement  of  the  educational  system;  the  determina- 
tion of  the  budget  of  expenses  correlated  with  revenues  and  the  presen- 
tation of  the  needs  and  policies  of  the  school  system  to  the  people  of 
the  city. 

1.  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  SCHOOL  BOARD 

The  school  board  consists  of  five  members,  elected  at  large,  by  the 
legal  voters  of  the  school  district.  The  board  appoints  the  school  clerk 
who  keeps  the  minutes  of  the  board  meetings,  the  financial  books  of  the 
district,  issues  all  warrants,  takes  the  annual  school  census  and  makes 
an  annual   report  to  the  county  superintendent. 

No  regular  committees  exist  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the 
work  entrusted  to  the  school  board.  That  this  method  of  conducting 
business  apparently  works  satisfactorily  is  due  doubtless  to  the  small 
amount  of  business  to  be  transacted.  As  the  business  grows  with  the 
growth  of  the  school  district,  it  will  no  doubt  be  found  advisable  to 
have  several  committees,  as,  for  example,  a  committee  on  finance,  a 
committee  on  buildings  and  grounds,  and  a  committee  on  instruction. 

2.     FINANCIAL  PROCEDURE 

Although  no  audit  was  made  of  the  financial  records  and  books,  the 
financial  procedure  followed  seemed  to  be  correct.  All  claims  are  allowed 
by  the  board  in  regular  session  and  properly  recorded  in  the  minutes  of 


44  CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 

the  meeting.  Warrants  are  then  drawn  in  favor  of  the  payee  and  signed 
by  the  chairman  of  the  board  and  the  clerk.  Claimants  and  vendors 
are  required  to  accompany  their  bills  with  a  written  order;  this  is 
deserving  of  special  mention.  It  is  customary  in  public  business  to 
require  the  person  ordering  supplies  to  certify  to  the  following  state- 
ments; viz.:  (1)  that  the  goods  or  services  are  necessary  and  that  they 
are  to  be  used  only  for  the  benefit  of  the  schools,  and  (2)  that  the  cost 
of  the  supplies  or  services  ordered  is  fully  covered  by  an  unencumbered 
balance  in  the  appropriation  against  which  the  cost  is  to  be  charged. 
The  order  blank  used  at  present  might  be  made  to  conform  to  the  best 
modern  practice  by  having  the  above-mentioned  statements  printed 
thereon  and  certified  to  each  time  an  order  is  issued  and  instead  of  the 
words  "For  what  used,"  there  could  be  inserted  the  words  "P'und  to  be 
charged."  It  would  seem  desirable  and  practicable  to  limit  the  authority 
to  issue  orders  against  school  funds  to  the  school  clerk  and  the  school 
superintendent  and  to  specify  in  detail  the  particular  funds  each  was 
authorized  to  issue  orders  against.  This  should  be  done  by  order  of  the 
board  immediately  after  the  adoption  of  the  annual  budget.  Any  janitor, 
principal,  member  of  school  board,  desiring  to  have  purchases  made 
would  be  required  to  get  an  order  from  either  the  clerk  or  the  superin- 
tendent, and  no  bill  would  be  allowed  by  the  board  unless  authorized  by 
either  the  clerk  or  superintendent.  This  system. would  definitely  place 
the  responsibility  for  exceeding  the  budget  appropriation  with  the  persons 
authorized  to  issue  orders,  which  is  the  logical  way  to  exercise  control 
over  expenditures.  The  attempt  to  exercise  control  over  expenditures 
after  the  goods  are  ordered  and  have  been  received  and  the  merchant  has 
presented  his  bill  is  not  founded  on  sound  business  principles.  When 
the  board  audits  the  bills  and  allows  the  claims  they  want  the  following 
information:  (1)  Has  the  order  been  made  by  a  person  authorized  to 
incur  obligations  against  school  funds;  (2)  Are  there  sufficient  funds 
available  for  paying  the  bill  in  the  particular  fund  against  which  it  is 
to  be  charged;   (3)   Has  the  order  been  charged  against  the  correct  fund; 

(4)  Have  the  goods  ordered   been   actually  received  in   good  condition; 

(5)  Does  the  claim  of  the  merchant  agree  with  the  original  order  as  to 
quantity,  quality  and  price.  The  evidence  now  submitted  to  the  board 
as  to  the  receipt  of  the  goods  is  the  O.  K.  of  the  person  ordering.  It  is 
maintained  that  this  is  not  sufficient  evidence  and  that  there  should  be 
substituted  a  definite  printed  form  known  as  a  Receiving  Slip  upon 
which  shall  be  entered  in  detail  the  goods  received  by  the  person  receiving 
them.  Any  individual  in  the  school  system,  whether  it  be  a  teacher, 
principal,  janitor,  superintendent  or  clerk  receiving  goods  on  behalf  of 
the  schools  should  immediately  fill  out  one  of  these  receiving  slips, 
noting  the  date,  goods  received  and  whether  in  good  condition,  sign  it, 
and  send  the  slip  to  the  superintendent.  This  would  supply  the  board 
with  all  the  information  needed.  The  original  order,  to  which  should  be 
attached  the  receiving  slip  or  slips,  and  the  merchant's  bill  should  be 
presented  to  the  board  for  audit. 

The  policy  of  the  board  in  securing  bids  on  all  purchases  both  from 
local  dealers  and  outside  dealers  is  to  be  especially  commended.  It  is 
herein  suggested  that  the  board  should  formally  adopt  rules  and  regu- 
lations governing  all  financial  procedure  and  that  among  these  should  be 
one  requiring  at  least  three  bids  to  be  obtained  on  all  expenditures  which 


ASHLAND   PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  45 

will  aggregate  $10.00  during  the  course  of  a  year.  As  the  business  of 
the  system  increases  it  will  doubtless  be  found  more  economical  to  have 
Bid  Sheets  printed  especially  for  this  purpose  than  to  write  three  or 
more  letters  each  time  bids  are  secured. 


3.     RECORDING  OF  TEACHERS'  CERTIFICATES 

The  Oregon  school  laws  provide  that  "If  any  district  school  board 
shall  draw  a  warrant  on  the  school  fund  for  the  wages  of  any  teacher 
who  does  not  hold  a  valid  teachers'  permit,  certificate  or  diploma,  and 
lay  the  same  before  the  boards  of  directors  for  inspection,  such  district 
.«ihall  forfeit  its  proportion  of  the  school  fund  for  the  current  year." 
(L.  1913,  Chap.  172.)  In  order  for  the  board  to  protect  itself  and  the 
residents  of  the  district  against  such  a  contingency,  the  board  should 
require  the  clerk  to  keep  on  file  in  his  office  an  authentic  record  of  the 
certificate  of  each  teacher  employed.  No  warrant  should  be  drawn  for 
any  teacher's  salary  whose  certificate  is  not  definitely  recorded  in  the 
clerk's  office. 


4.     PAYROLL 

The  largest  single  item  of  expenditure  in  the  school  budget  is  for 
the  salaries  of  teachers  and  yet  Ashland  has  no  payroll.  Out  of  a  total 
budget  of  $46,000.00,  over  one-half  or  $25,000.00  is  annually  expended 
for  salaries  of  principals  and  teachers. 

A  properly  planned  payroll  accomplishes  two  very  important  pur- 
poses: (1)  it  serves  as  a  voucher  or  receipt  for  money  disbursed,  and 
(2)  it  reveals  the  details  of  the  cost  of  instruction  by  buildings  and 
grades.  The  principal  of  each  school  or  the  superintendent,  if  he  has 
personal  knowledge  of  the  actual  attendance  of  each  teacher,  should 
prepare  the  payroll  which  should  contain  the  name  of  each  teacher, 
annual  or  monthly  salary,  time  absent,  deductions  and  amount  due,  and 
he  should  certify  that  the  payroll  as  prepared  is  correct.  The  clerk 
should  then  proceed  to  scrutinize  the  payroll  from  the  following  stand- 
points: (1)  Was  each  person  named  duly  appointed  or  elected  as  shown 
by  written  evidence  on  file  in  his  office;  (2)  Has  each  person  named 
filed  with  him  a  copy  of  his  certificate;  (3)  Will  the  amount  mentioned 
in  the  payroll  exceed  the  amount  appropriated  fo)-  this  purpose  in  the 
budget.  After  being  ordered  paid  by  the  board,  the  clerk  proceeds  to 
draw  the  warrants.  A  payroll  should  be  made  out  for  each  building 
and  as  warrants  are  handed  to  teachers  they  should  sign  the  payroll, 
or  the  teachers  might  authorize  the  principal  in  writing  to  sign  the 
payi-oll  for  them  in  which  case  the  principal  might  go  to  the  clerk's 
office,  sign  the  payroll  for  all  the  teachers,  get  the  warrants  and 
distribute  them  to  the  teachers.  The  following  form  of  payroll  is 
recommended : 


46 


CONSTRUCTIVE   SURVEY  OF 


P.  s. 


Table  Twenty — Sample  Payroll  Blank. 


District  No.   5 


Received   from   tiie   Board   of   Education   of  Ashland   tiie  amount   set   opposite 
our  lianrts  respectively,  being  in  full  for  services  rendered  from  to  . 


■m™                    Position 
Name                  „,  g^ade 

Monthly 
salary 

Time 
absent 

Deduot- 
tione 

Amount 
due 

Warrant 
No. 

Signatures 

1 

1 
1 

1                   1 

1                   1 

1 

5.     SCHOOL  RECORDS  AT  HIGH  SCHOOL  BUILDING 


The  school  clerk  .should  be  kept  close  to  the  educational  management 
and  made  to  feel  that  he  is  a  part  of  the  educational  organization.  The 
present  isolation  of  the  clerk  with  his  books  and  records  kept  in  the 
vaults  of  one  of  the  banks  at  considerable  distance  from  the  office  of 
the  superintendent  is  not  an  economical  or  efficient  arrangement.  Cur- 
i-ent  information  regarding  the  operation  of  the  school  system,  which 
the  superintendent  needs  to  have  at  hand  in  order  to  manage  his  work 
successfully  can  under  the  present  arrangement  be  obtained  only  by 
telephoning  to  the  clerk  in  another  part  of  the  city  or  making  a  trip 
to  the  clerk's  office.  Under  the  existing  local  conditions,  and  with  the 
safeguards  of  the  budget  system  of  handling  expenditures,  the  committee 
can  see  no  objection  in  combining  the  duties  now  performed  by  the 
school  clerk  and  the  assistant  to  the  school  superintendent  in  one  office, 
until  such  time  as  the  work  of  these  two  offices  shall  have  grown  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  demand  the  full  time  of  two  persons.  For  this 
position  the  board  could  afford  to  pay  a  salary  sufficiently  large  to 
demand  the  full  time  of  a  competent  bookkeeper  and  stenographer,  who, 
in  addition  to  keeping  the  books  of  the  district  could  relieve  the  superin- 
tendent of  a  considerable  amount  of  business  duties  connected  with  the 
purchasing  of  educational  and  other  supplies.  This  person  should  be 
elected  by  the  board,  who  should  determine  his  tenure  and  compensation; 
he  should  be  required  to  give  bonds  for  the  faithful  performance  of  his 
duties,  and  the  books  of  the  office  should  be  audited  each  year;  he 
should  make  all  purchases,  approve  all  bills,  and  when  ordered  paid  by 
the  board  draw  warrants  for  their  payment;  pay  all  employes  for  service 
performed;  act  as  .secretary  of  the  board  and  have  general  charge  of 
the  repair,  operation  and  care  of  all  school  property.  In  addition  to 
these  duties,  his  remaining  time  would  be  devoted  to  assisting  the 
superintendent. 


ASHLAND   PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  47 

6.     THE  BUDGET 

The  board  prepares  an  annual  budpet  and  lives  within  this  budget. 
This  is  to  be  commended.  The  form  of  the  budget  can  be  improved  by 
following  the  classification  of  accounts  recommended  by  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education.  Standard  classification  of  school  accounts 
have  been  devised  by  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education  which  have  been 
successfully  applied  to  large  and  small  school  systems  for  a  number  of 
years.  The  committee  has  been  advised  that  the  legislature  has  just 
formed  a  law  requiring  the  publication  of  the  annual  school  budget. 
We  feel,  therefore,  that  it  is  important  that  the  Ashland  schools  should 
adopt  this  standard  system. 

The  system  is  the  best  system  yet  devised  and  is  capable  of  expansion 
as  the  school  system  grows,  and  hence  will  not  have  to  be  changed  from 
year  to  year.  A  standard  classification  of  expenditures  becomes  more 
valuable  each  year  because  it  makes  possible  the  comparison  of  expen- 
ditures of  one  year  with  those  of  another,  and  with  those  of  other  cities 
of  similar  size. 

The  purposes  for  which  school  funds  are  expended  are  so  nearly  alike 
in  all  school  systems,  whether  gi'eat  or  small,  that  standardization  in 
school  accounting  is  a  comparatively  simple  problem.  Every  expenditure 
of  school  money  can  be  classified  under  one  of  the  following  divisions: 
Administration,  instruction,  operation  of  school  plant,  maintenance  of 
school  plant,  acquisition  of  plant  or  equipment,  and  fixed  charges  and 
contributions,  and  these  have  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  standard  classi- 
fication  for  school   purposes. 

By  the  very  simple  process  of  grouping  the  items  of  expenditure  as 
set  forth  in  the  1915-16  budget  under  different  headings,  the  standard 
form  of  budget  can  be  produced  for  Ashland  and  furthermore  by  simply 
inserting  these  new  headings  in  the  clerk's  distribution  book  the  account- 
ing can  be  made  to  conform  to  the  best  modern  standards  in  school 
accounting.  There  is  given  on  pages  48  and  49  in  parallel  columns  the 
budget  for  1915-16  as  prepared  by  the  Ashland  boaid  and  the  same  items 
grouped  under  standard  classifications. 

The  clerk's  distribution  of  expenditures  should  contain  columns  for 
recording  the  following  information.  (1)  Date;  (2)  Invoice  number; 
(3)  To  whom  paid;  (4)  For  what;  (5)  For  what  school;  (6)  Total 
amount;  (7)  Warrant  No.,  and  then  columns  for  distributing  the  item 
under  the  proper  expense  classification  of  the  budget. 


7.     RECORD  OF  RECEIPTS 

The  receipts  of  a  school  system  are  of  two  kinds,  viz.,  revenue 
receipts  and  non-revenue  receipts,  and  for  recording  these  a  book 
arranged  with  columns  as  shown  in  Table  Twenty-two,  page  50,  will  be 
found  advisable. 


48 


CONSTRUCTIVE   SURVEY  OF 


Table    Twenty-One — Typical   Budget    Classifications. 


Ashland  Budnet  Classifications, 
1915-1916 

A.  Fixed  vearly  charges  $12,660 

1.  Fuel: 

a.  T\^ood      ....$900 

b.  Oil     800 

c.  Kindling ..      25 

$1,725 

2.  LiRht      360 

3.  Telephone    75 

4.  "U'ater      100 

5.  Sinking  fund  5.000 

6.  Interest     4,750 

7.  Insurance     250 

S.   Freight,     Teleg....         100 
9.  Clerk  and  census        300 

B.  Salaries    27,720 

1.  Superintendent....  $1,800 

2.  H.    S.    Principal..  1,250 

3.  Grade    Principal..  2.000 

4.  H.    S.    Teachers..  9,095 

5.  East  S.  Teachers  5.200 

6.  West  S.  Teachers  6,075 

7.  Janitors : 

a.  High     School  ..      1,000 

b.  West  Side  700 

c.  East   Side   600 

C.  Office    250 

1.  Postage    $       25 

2.  Stationery    75 

3.  Printing    150 

D.  School    Supplies    2,240 

1.  Drawing      $    200 

2.  Penmanship      200 

3.  Agriculture     100 

4.  Man.     Training....  300 

5.  Cooking    200 

6.  Sewing    250 

7.  Chemistry    100 

S.  Phvsics      100 

9.  Phvs.    Geog 125 

10.  Biology     100 

11.  Primary      200 

12.  Janitor    75 

13.  Cravon    30 

14.  T.  paper  35 

15.  Theme    paper 100 

16.  Disinfectants     ....  50 

17.  Floor    oil    75 

E.  Apparatus    1,850 

1.  Typewriters     $    800 

2.  Library     300 

?,.  Maps  and  globes         150 

4.  Dictionaries  100 

5.  Incidentals     500 

F.  Repairs      750 

1.  H.  S.  Roof  $    250 

2.  West  Side  Roof..         500 

G.  New    Equipment    550 

1.  Drawing  tables  ..  %    175 

2.  Sewing  tables    ...  100 

3.  Commercial    100 

4.  StooLs,    3    doz 75 

5.  Playground    100 


XJ.  S.  Bureau  of  Education  Standard 
Classifications. 

1.  Administration     $2,200 

1.  Superintendent....    $1,800 

2.  Clerk   and   census         300 

3.  General    expense..         100 

2.  Instruction      25,875 

1.  Salaries     $23,620 

Principals     3,250 

Teachers    20,370 

2.  Educa.    supplies..  2,255 
Office : 

Stationery  ..$   75 

Postage      ....  25 

Printing     ....  150 

Drawing    ....  200 

Penmanship  200 

Agric 100 

Man.     Tr 200 

Dom.     Sc 200 

Dom.     Art....  250 

Chem 100 

Physics    100 

Phv.    Geog...  125 

Biology    100 

Primary     ....  200 
Crayon,  Pa- 
per,    etc 130 

3.  Operation  of  School  Plant 4,795 

1.  Janitors'    sal $2,300 

2.  Janitors'    supplies        235 

a.  Floor    oil.. ..$75  . 

b.  Disinfectant  50 

c.  T.     paper  ....   35 

d.  Other    75 

3.  Fuel    1,725 

4.  Water    100 

5.  Light    350 

6.  Phone     75 

4.  Maintenance   of   School   Plant     1,000 

1.  Repairs    to   build- 

ings and  upkeep 

of   grounds   $    750 

2.  Insurance    250 

5.  Library    300 

1.   Books     $    300 

6.  Outlay— Capital 

Acquisition 

1.  Land 

2.  New  buildings 

3.  Equipment,   new 

buildings 

4.  Alterations,  old 

buildings 

5.  Equipment,   old 

buildings 

6.  Educational    Equipment... 

7.  Other  payments : 

1.  Interest      $4,750 

2.  Debt     reduction....      5,000 

3.  Sinking  fund. 


2,100 


ASHLAND   PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


49 


Summary. 


A.  Fixed  expenses  J12,660 

B.  Salaries    27,720 

C.  Office   supplies   250 

D.  School  supplies  2,240 

E.  Apparatus    1,850 

F.  Repairs     750 

G.  New    equipment    550 

$46,020 


1.  Administration    $  2.200 

2.  Instruction    25,875 

3.  Operation  of  school  plant  4,795 

4.  Maintenance  of  school  plant..     1,000 

5.  Library    300 

6.  Outlay    2,100 

7.  Other    payments    9,750 

$46,020 


8.    PERPETUAL  INVENTORY  OF  EQUIPMENT  NEEDED 

Perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  way  to  keep  track  of  the  equipment 
in  a  school  system  is  to  make  out  a  separate  card  for  each  class  of 
equipment  owned  and  file  the  card  according  to  buildings  and  depart- 
ments. Whenever  new  classes  of  equipment  are  acquired,  new  cards  can 
be  made;  if  additional  pieces  are  secured  they  can  be  entered  on  existing 
cards  and  if  pieces  are  disposed  of,  lost  or  destroyed,  the  fact  can  be 
noted  on  the  cards  so  that  at  any  given  moment  the  equipment  cards 
show  the  quantity  and  value  of  the  equipment  on  hand  and  all  that  is 
necessary  is  to  check  up  the  cards  by  actual  count  of  the  property  on 
hand  to  establish  the  accuracy  of  the  records.  The  equipment  card 
shown  in  Table  Twenty-three,  page  50,  is  recommended. 


9.     ANNUAL  REPORT 


It  has  been  pointed  out  that  one  of  the  functions  of  the  Board  of 
Education  is  to  bring  the  needs  and  policies  of  the  school  system  before 
the  people  of  the  district.  There  is  a  danger,  which  in  several  cities 
in  Oregon  has  developed  into  a  fact,  that  the  people  of  a  community  may 
fail  to  support  the  policies  of  the  school  board  because  they  have  been 
kept  in  ignorance  of  the  actual  situation.  The  citizens  of  a  modern  city 
need  to  know  the  facts  regarding  their  school  system,  what  has  been 
accomplished  and  what  remains  to  be  achieved.  Intelligent  appreciation 
and  cooperation  in  the  long  run  is  a  matter  of  education  involving  a 
knowledge  of  the  same  facts  which  sway  the  school  board  in  its  decisions. 

Probably  the  best  way  of  supplying  this  knowledge  is  by  means  of 
an  annual  or  biennial  report.  This  may  be  published  as  a  separate  tract 
or  through  the  columns  of  the  press.  It  is  not  necessary  to  publish  a 
detailed  account  of  the  system  each  year,  but  certain  phases  of  the 
system  may  be  discussed  in  succeeding  years.  As  the  system  grows  in 
size  the  volume  of  the  annual  report  may  be  more  extended.  The  publi- 
cation of  the  report  of  the  present  survey  committee  should  prove  to  be 
sufficiently  extensive  in  the  matter  of  publicity  for  a  period  of  two 
years.  The  school  board  deserves  commendation  for  supporting  the 
present  survey  and  for  presenting  the  report  of  the  committee  to  the 
public. 


50 


CONSTRUCTIVE  SURVEY  OF 


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ASHLAND   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  51 

CHAPTER   VIII 
SUMMARY  OF  RECOMMENDATIONS 

Careful  perusal  of  the  foreKoiriK  pages  will  disclose  the  fact  that 
for  the  most  part  the  survey  committee  has  approved  the  Ashland 
public  schools.  The  chief  purpose  of  the  survey  was,  however,  not 
merely  to  indicate  whether  or  not  a  favorable  state  of  affairs  as  a 
whole  existed,  but  rather  to  suggest  proper  points  of  departure  for 
constructive  improvements.  Suggestions  of  this  nature  have  been  made 
throughout  the  report.  It  now  remains  to  summarize  the  more  important 
recommendations  of  the  committee.  It  is  not  urged  that  all  of  these 
must  necessarily  be  put  immediately  into  operation,  but  it  seems  reason- 
able to  expect  that  no  great  length  of  time  shall  elapse  before,  under  the 
discreet  direction  of  the  superintendent  of  schools,  authorized  and  sup- 
ported by  the  school  board,  the  majority  of  the  suggestions  of  the 
committee  shall  enter  into  actual  school  practice.  The  committee  makes 
the  following  recommendations: 

1.  That  an  outside  room  be  provided  for  the  manual  training  classes, 
to  be  built  largely  by  the  work  of  the  boys  themselves,  and  that  a  larger 
room  be  provided  for  the  sewing  work  in  order  that  the  girls  may  work 
at  tables. 

2.  That  efforts  be  made  to  secure  by  loan  or  gift  a  larger  collection 
of  good  pictures,  mural  decorations,  and  pieces  of  sculpture. 

3.  That  doors  or  screens  be  placed  in  front  of  the  toilets  in  the 
grade  schools. 

4.  That  68  degrees  be  established  as  the  standard  temperature  of 
the  school  rooms  instead  of  70,  and  that  the  halls  at  the  East  school 
be  warmed. 

5.  That  vigorous  physical  exercise  be  required  in  each  grade  room 
for  at  least  five  minutes  during  each  session,  or  a  run  in  the  open  air 
for  an  equal  length  of  time. 

6.  That  the  main  effort  of  the  Ashland  school  authorities  be  directed 
toward  strong  courses  in  the  standard  academic  branches  with  knowledge 
of  fundamentals,  formation  of  character,  development  of  disciplined  mind, 
and  acquisition  of  general  culture  as  the  chief  educational  aims,  but 
that  physical  and  industrial  education  be  considered  sufficiently  funda- 
mental and  important  as  to  demand  thoroughly  substantial  support. 

7.  That  the  aim  of  the  manual  training  work  be  made  more  voca- 
tional, and  that  home  gardens  and  poultry-raising  clubs  be  organized 
under   school   supervision. 

8.  That  prospective  rural  school  teachers  take  the  high  school 
teachers'  training  course,  but  that  prospective  city  elementary  and  high 
school  teachers  be  advised  to  take  their  professional  training  later  in 
higher  educational  institutions. 

9.  That  more  attention  be  given  to  the  fundamentals  of  punctuation 
and  capitalization. 

10.  That  classes  in  penmanship  be  reorganized  on  the  basis  of  ability, 
and  that  a  large  share  of  the  time  now  given  to  the  best  one-fourth  of 
the  pupils  of  the  upper  elementary  gi-ades  be  devoted  to  the  poorest 
one-fourth. 


52     CONSTRUCTIVE    SURVEY,  ASHLAND   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

11.  That  good  writing  be  made  a  prerequisite  for  admission  to  book- 
keeping courses. 

12.  That  more  emphasis  be  placed  upon  silent  reading. 

13.  That  a  teacher  or  supervisor  of  physical  education  be  employed. 

14.  That  a  greater  length  of  tenure  of  position  be  maintained  in  the 
high  school  teaching  staff. 

15.  That  departmentalization  be  extended  to  include  music  and  draw- 
ing above  the  third  grade. 

16.  That  more  supervision  be  given  to  high   school  teaching. 

17.  That  the  teachers  keep  more  detailed  records  of  plans  and 
progress. 

18.  That  efforts  be  made  to  locate  by  use  of  quantitative  tests  the 
various  abilities  of  individual  pupils  in  the  fundamentals,  and  that 
individual  and  auxiliary  teaching  be  guided  to  a  greater  extent  by  such 
standards. 

19.  That  the  pi'esent  study  of  conditions  of  retardation,  promotion, 
and  elimination  be  continued  with  the  view  of  learning  and  ameliorating 
as  far  as  possible  the  individual  causes  which  prevail  against  backward 
and  absent  children. 

20.  That  a  more  efficient  system  of  ordering,  purchasing,  and  record- 
ing supplies  and  equipment,  and  of  accounting  for  other  expenditures 
be  adopted. 

21.  That  a  standard  payroll  be  adopted. 

22.  That  the  offices  of  school  clerk  and  secretary  of  the  superin- 
tendent be  combined. 

23.  That  the  budget  classifications  recommended  by  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education  be  adopted. 

24.  That  an  annual  budget  and  report  be  published  either  in  the 
newspapers  or  as  a  separate  document. 


u 

354  Ashland jOr. 
A82c   Committee 

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pi'  the  Ashland  "~ 
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